Innovation Fuels New Energy Source at Mars
Published Dec 04, 2008
It’s not easy to imagine Snickers bars and landfill gas in the same sentence, let alone in the same factory. But a Mars snack facility in the Heart of Texas has done just that – and everyone’s coming out ahead.
The company’s facility in Waco, one of its largest U.S. plants, has converted 60 percent of its heating fuel source from natural gas to methane gas. The company is saving $500,000 a year by using gas harvested from a city-operated landfill to generate steam for process cooking, hot water and humidity control.
“It’s good business, and it’s good for the environment,” says Norm Burgess, a retired Mars engineer who originated the idea and worked on the project.
The methane is harvested through wells and piped from the city landfill to the Mars plant five miles away. At present, 56 wells supply the plant, with plans to dig another 10 wells to increase capacity.
The methane will supply enough power for the plant’s boilers for the next 25 years and reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by more than 10,000 metric tons, equivalent to taking 1,900 cars off the road.
The city of Waco contracted with Eagle Renewable Energy Group LLC to harvest and dispose of the methane, with Mars as sole end user.
“It just really fits with the whole philosophy of our business,” Burgess says.
Story by Michaela Jackson
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