Methane oxidation biosystem in landfill fugitive emissions using conventional cover soil and compost as alternative substrate—a field study

Abstract

Land ll is an important anthropogenic source of greenhouse gases (GHG). Aiming at methane mitigation through the use of a cover layer in the form of fugitive emissions, this study investigated the methane passive bioxidation in a Brazilian land ll in bio lters under two conditions: control column (packing material using a 60 cm land ll cover soil with ≅0.8% organic matter) and enriched column (packing material using 45 cm land ll cover soil and 15 cm mixture of cover soil plus compost with ≅6% organic matter). The biogas was collected from a vertical drain pipe of a four-year-old cell and injected into the base of the columns with a high inlet loading (1000 g CH4 .m -².d -¹ at standard temperature and pressure conditions) in the upward ow mode. Ten campaigns were carried out for six months in order to determine the e ciency of the methane oxidation in each column. Parameters related to the biogas oxidation were also determined, such as soil temperature and moisture content and nutrients content in both lter beds. The oxidation global e ciencies were higher in the enriched column throughout all campaigns, with »71 and »95% for the control and enriched columns, respectively. Our study demonstrated that the use of substrates with high organic matter content and low cost (such as the compost) in land ll cover layers might present high e cacy in the reduction of methane fugitive emissions. Land ll is an important anthropogenic source of greenhouse gases (GHG). Aiming at methane mitigation through the use of a cover layer in the form of fugitive emissions, this study investigated the methane passive bio-oxidation in a Brazilian land ll in bio lters under two conditions: control column (packing material using only land ll cover soil with ≅0.8% organic matter) and enriched column (packing material using 45 cm land ll cover soil and 15 cm mixture of cover soil plus compost with ≅6% organic matter). Biogas was collected from a vertical drain pipe of a four-year-old cell and injected into the base of the columns with a high inlet loading (1000 gCH4.m-².d-¹) in upward ow mode. Ten campaigns were carried out for six months in order to determine the e ciency of the methane oxidation in each column. Soil temperature, moisture and nutrients content in both lter beds were also determined. The oxidation global e ciencies were higher in the enriched column throughout all campaigns, with »71 and »95% for the control and enriched columns, respectively, demonstrating that this technology can be applied even in land lls where there is no energy recovery from biogas (as in most land lls in developing countries). Our study demonstrated that the use of substrates with high organic matter content and low cost in land ll cover layers might present high e cacy in the reduction of methane fugitive emissions. Even operating in eld-scale conditions, the results of this study were comparable to those obtained with bio lters on lab-scale (under controlled operational conditions).

Utilização de colunas de solo para avaliação da redução de emissões de gases de efeito estufa em camadas de cobertura de aterros sanitários

“…Segundo Schirmer et al (2022), a redução de emissão de gases do efeito (GEE) estufa pode ser analisada através da avaliação de eficiência de oxidação de CH4 em colunas de laboratório ou biofiltros de PVC. O uso da metodologia de colunas de solos instalados em aterros sanitários tem se mostrado eficiente na oxidação de CH4, confirmando a eficiência dos substratos orgânicos utilizados nos biofiltros ( VAN TIENEN et al, 2021).…”