Application of the Triangular Model in quantifying landfill gas emission from municipal solid wastes

Document Type : Original Research Paper

Authors

1 Environmental Engineering Research Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria

2 Environmental Engineering Research Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria

3 Center of Environmental Sustainability and Water Security (IPASA), Research Institute of Sustainable Environment (RISE), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor Darul Takzim, Malaysia.

Abstract

Municipal solid waste landfills are significant parts of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. The emission of significant amount of landfill gas has generated considerable interest in quantifying such emissions. The chemical composition of the organic constituents and potential amount of landfill gas that can be derived from the waste were determined. The chemical formulae for the rapidly biodegradable waste (RBW) and slowly biodegradable waste (SBW) were determined as C39H62O27N and C36H56O20N, respectively. The triangular method was used to calculate landfill gas obtainable from rapidly biodegradable waste over a 5-year period and for slowly biodegradable waste over a 15-year period. A plot was obtained for a landfill life span of 20 years. The volume of methane and carbon dioxide from RBW were 12.60 m3 and 11.76 m3 respectively while those from SBW were 6.60 m3 and 5.48 m3 respectively at STP. For the initial deposit of 2002 the highest landfill gas emission rate occurred in 2007 at 0.2829 Gg/yr with an average cumulative emission of 0.3142 Gg while for a landfill closed after five years the highest landfill gas emission rate was in 2010 at 1.2804 Gg/yr with an average cumulative emission of 1.5679 Gg while this cumulative emission will start declining by the year 2029.

Keywords


Abushammala, M. F. M., Basri, N. E. A. and Kadhum, A. A. H. (2009). Review on landfill gas emission to the atmosphere. Eur.J. Sci. Res. 30(3): 427-436.
Aronica, S., Bonanno, A., Piazza, V., Pignato, L. and Trapani, S. (2009). Estimation of biogas produced by the landfill of Palermo, applying a Gaussian model. Waste Manage. 29: 233-239.
ATSDR (2001). Landfill gas primer: An overview for environmental health professionals, Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Health Assessment and Consultation.
Bingemer, H. G. and Crutzen, P. J. (1987). The production of methane from solid wastes. J. Geophys. Res.  92(D2): 2181-2187.
Cooper, C. D. and Alley, F. C. (2002). Air pollution control: A design approach, Waveland Press Inc., Long Grove, IL.
Czepiel, P. M., Shorter, J. H., Mosher, B., Allwine, E., McManus, J. B., Harriss, R .C., Kolb, C. E. and Lamb, B. K. (2003). The influence of atmospheric pressure on landfill methane emissions. Waste Manage. 23: 593–598.
de Brauer, C., Achour, F., Bayard, R. Gourdon, R. (2005). Characterization of organic matter during maturation of municipal solid waste in order to identify chemical parameters indicating stabilization. International Workshop on Hydro-Physico-Mechanics of Landfills, Grenoble 1 University, France.
Deed, C., Cronow, J.,  Rosevear, A., Braithwaite, P., Smith, R. and Stanley, P. (2004). Guidance on gas treatment technologies for landfill gas engines, Environment Agency, Bristol, UK. R&D Technical Report P1-330.
Falzon, J. (1997). Landfill gas: An Australian perspective. Sixth International Landfill Symposium. Sardinia, Italy. 2: 487-496.
Franchetti, M. J. (2009). Solid waste analysis and minimization: a systems approach. New York, McGraw-Hill Company, Inc.
Hurst, C., Longhurst, P., Pollard, S., Smith, R., Jefferson, B. and Gronow, J. (2005). Assessment of municipal waste compost as a daily cover material for odor control at landfill sites. Environ. Pollut. 135: 71-177.
IPCC (1992). Climate change 1992. The supplementary report to the IPCC Scientific   Assessment. Published for the IPCC/WMO/UNEP. J. T. Houghton, Jenkins, G.J. and Ephraums, J.J., Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
IPCC (1996). Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories: Reference Manual. Chapter 6 - Waste.
IPCC (2006). IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 1–5.
JPSPN (2010). Distribution of landfil sites in Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Kumar, S., Gaikwad, S. A., Shekdar, A. V., Kshirsagar, P. S. and Singh, R. N. (2004). Estimation method for national methane emission from solid waste landfills. Atmos. Environ. 38: 3481-3487.
Kumar, S., Mondal, A. N., Gaikwad, S. A., Devotta, S. and Singh, R. N. (2004). Qualitative assessment of methane emission inventory from municipal solid waste disposal sites: a case study. Atmos. Environ. 38: 4921–4929.
Machado, S. L., Carvalho, M. F., Gourc, J. P., Vilar, O. M. and do Nascimento, J. C. F. (2009). Methane generation in tropical landfills: Simplified methods and field results. Waste Manage. 29: 153–161.
Mackie, K. R. and Cooper, C. D. (2009). Landfill gas emission prediction using Voronoi diagrams and importance sampling. Environ. Modell. Softw. 24: 1223-1232.
Papageorgiou, A.,  Barton, J. R. and Karagiannidis, A. (2009). Assessment of the greenhouse effect impact of technologies used for energy recovery from municipal waste: A case for England. J. Environ. Manage. 90(2999-3012).
Parker, T., Dottridge, J and Kelly, S. (2002). Investigation of the composition and emissions of trace components in landfill gas, Environment Agency, Bristol, UK. R&D Technical Report P1-438/TR.
Qin, W., Egolfopoulos, F. N. and Tsotsis, T. T. (2001). Fundamental and environmental aspects of landfill utilization for power generation. Chem. Eng. J. 82: 157–172.
Scharff, H. and Afvalzorg, N. V. (2005). Landfill gas production and emission on former landfills.
Tchobanoglous, G., Theisen, H. and Vigil, S. A. (1993). Integrated solid waste management: Engineering principles and management issues. New York, McGraw Hill.
Trenberth, K. E. (2007). Observations of climate change: The 2007 IPCC Assessment. Committee on Science and Technology, United States House of Representatives. Room 2318 of the Rayburn House Office Building.
Tsai, W. T. (2007). Bioenergy from landfill gas (LFG) in Taiwan. Renewable Sustainable Energy Rev. 11: 331-344.
Urase, T., Okumura, H., Panyosaranya, S. and Inamura, A. (2008). Emission of volatile organic compounds from solid waste disposal sites and importance of heat management. Waste Management & Research 26(6): 534-538.
Veeken, A., Kalyuzhnyi, S., Scharff, H. and Hamelers, B. (2000). Effect of pH and VFA on hydrolysis of organic solid waste. J. Environ. Eng. 126(12): 1076-1081.
Wangyao, K., Towprayoon, S., Chiemchaisri, C., Gheewala, S. H. and Nopharatana, A. (2010). Application of the IPCC Waste Model to solid waste disposal sites in tropical countries: case study of Thailand. Environ. Monit. Assess. 164: 249–261.
Williams, P. T. (2005). Waste treatment and disposal., John Wiley & Sons Ltd, England.
Xiaoli, C., Ziyang, L., Shimaoka, T., Nakayama, H., Ying, Z., Xiaoyan, C.,.Komiya, T., Ishizaki, T. and Youcai, Z. (2010). Characteristics of environmental factors and their effects on CH4 and CO2 emissions from a closed landfill: An ecological case study of Shanghai. Waste Manage. 30: 446–451.