Additional US$12m investment to expand capacity
The BMW Group steps up its commitment to sustainable production processes by investing an additional US$12 million in the expansion of its “Gas to Energy” programme at its Spartanburg plant, the production facility for BMW X vehicles. In an effort to improve capacity and efficiency, new gas turbine generators are being fitted which will double the plant’s overall electrical output while using the same amount of methane gas.
Capable of producing 11,000 kilowatts (kW) of electricity, the two new turbine generators will replace four older ones and improve electrical output at the plant from 14% to nearly 30%.
The programme, which was implemented in late 2002, collects methane gas at a nearby landfill and transports it 9.5 miles via pipeline to BMW's Spartanburg production facility. More than 60% of the plant's total energy requirements are already met by burning methane gas, a byproduct of landfill waste decomposition. BMW says the expansion will help the company to more efficiently use the gas siphoned from the landfill.
“BMW’s landfill gas programme has been a tremendous initiative for the plant,” said Josef Kerscher, President of BMW Manufacturing. “Using methane gas to power our plant is one example of our focus on environmentally-friendly production processes.”
In addition to adding larger turbines and heat recovery boilers, BMW will integrate a new specialised treatment system to remove siloxanes from the methane gas (a compound common to landfill gas and potentially destructive to gas turbines). Two of the four original 1,200kW gas turbine engines will remain in place to serve as a back-up for the new system.
The landfill project has saved BMW Group an average of US$5 million in energy costs annually. The new turbines are expected to increase those savings by up to US$2 million a year while reducing carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 92,000 tonnes per year.
Additional Facts:
• BMW has overseen the design, procurement, and construction of the expansion and will manage the overall operation and maintenance of the new system
• BMW's landfill project is the only project that co-generates electricity and hot water for use at an industrial location remote from the landfill
• By recycling methane gas, BMW is able to improve local air quality by lowering regional emissions of greenhouse gases (methane and carbon dioxide)
• For its original efforts BMW Manufacturing Co. LLC has won several national and state environmental awards, including the 2003 South Carolina Governor’s Pollution Prevention Award, EPA’s Green Power Award, and EPA’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP) Project of the Year award
• Based on calculations provided by the EPA, the reduction of 92,000 tonnes per year of carbon dioxide emissions is equivalent to the benefit of planting over 23,000 acres of trees annually or 30 times the size of New York’s Central Park
• To date, over 60% of the plant’s total energy requirements are provided by landfill gas
