Application of the triangular model in quantifying landfill gas emission from municipal solid wastes

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.