Inexpensive Approaches for Mitigating Methane Emission from Landfills

 

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Investigator:
Dr.Tarek Abichou,    Assistant Professor, FAMU – FSU College of Engineering, abichou@eng.fsu.edu

Dr.Jeffrey Chanton, Professor, Dept. of Oceanography, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, 32306-4320. 850-644-7493, jchanton@mailer.fsu.edu

Sponsors:

Florida Center for Solid and Hazardous Waste Management

National Science Foundation

Objectives:
    A coordinated field and laboratory campaign to design and test biocovers for the elimination of methane emissions     landfills is proposed.   The biocovers would serve smaller landfills where gas extraction is not feasible, and larger landfills, in the later period where gas extraction is no longer economical.  They will also reduce emissions from temporarily covered areas, even while gas extraction is employed.  These barriers will reduce emissions of NMOCs (non-methane organic compounds) and should also reduce odors. 

 

Methodology:

  At a field scale we will test the hypothesis that a biocover placed over the existing cap of a landfill can significantly enhance the activity of methane-oxidizing bacteria resulting in reduced or eliminated CH4 emission.  Column experiments will be designed to optimize the biocover’s oxidation capacity by varying the compost type, dispersant, water content, temperature, and methane flux rate.  In these experiments we will examine the effectiveness of differing types of materials (e.g. crushed glass, used tires).  

 

Rationale:    
    Methane is a greenhouse gas with an infrared activity 25 times that of CO2.  Its concentration has increased in the atmosphere by more than a factor of 2 over the last century.  The bulk of CH4 emissions are anthropogenic  and could be reduced.  Globally, landfills make up 40 Tg/yr of a 500 Tg/yr total source, 8%.  In Florida and other states, several old landfills were closed and/or in need closing with no gas management plans.   These landfills can be significant source of odors and green house gases.  Gas extraction tends to be expensive and out of   reach of most small communities managing their solid waste facilities.  An attractive alternative is to incorporate a bio-reactive layer into the design of a landfill cover or in areas with significant release of gas into the atmosphere (typically referred to as hot spots). Through sound environmental policy, based upon scientific observation, there is a greater potential to reduce CH4 input to the atmosphere compared to CO2. 

 

Status: Year 1(Done); Year 2(Done); Year 3 (In Progress)

 

Update: 01/30/2006