The generation of electricity from land fill is of increasing interest as a form of renewable energy to be used on site or sold to grid. However, siloxanes found in cosmetics, shampoos and a host of consumer products as well as industrial products make their way into land-fill and can cause considerable damage to power generation equipment.

Siloxanes are organosilicon compounds and through the build-up of silicon dioxide (SiO₂) created from combustion at burners, siloxanes coat turbine blades and heat exchangers and ultimately increases maintenance cost, gives lower energy outputs, and eventually causes failure.

Therefore, the need for monitoring siloxane content of biogas is important. Filtering systems are used to reduce siloxane concentrations prior to the combustion process, however efficient monitoring of the filters to show breakthrough is required to enable a cost-effective and efficient cleaning system.

Our GC-IMS SILOX system is able to detect the siloxanes at ultra low detection levels.