Comparing modelled, recovered and generated gas in a MSW landfill under leachate recirculation

Comparing modelled, recovered and generated gas in a MSW landfill under leachate recirculation

Heimovaara, T.J. (TU Delft Geoscience and Engineering)
Gebert, J. (TU Delft Geo-engineering)
Kanen, A.C. (Attero B.V.)
Meza Ramos, P.N. (TU Delft Geo-engineering)

Geoscience and Engineering

2023

In-situ stabilization of waste bodies can be achieved by the infiltration of water or recirculation of leachate into the landfill, which is thought to enhance the microbial degradation of waste organics by (re-)moisturizing dry zones and flushing out metabolic products of organic matter decay. The success of in-situ stabilization should reflect in initially accelerated and thereafter reduced rates of anaerobic waste organic matter decay rates. This paper compares the methane generation that was modelled using the Afvalzorg multiphase model without the added effect of leachate recirculation with actually extracted methane in the landfill and gas generation on sampled wastes following five years of leachate recirculation on a Dutch landfill. Laboratory incubations revealed a methane potential between 0.03 kg CH4/t dw and 15.8 kg CH4/t dw for 365 days. Clear trends with respect to depth, moisture content, total organic carbon or share in hard plastics did not emerge as overall waste heterogeneity was high and likely obfuscated the correlation analysis. The results showed a recovery efficiency of 30.4% for 2021, with 0.07 kg CH4/t dw for the recovered methane and 0.23 kg CH4/t dw for the predicted methane in compartment 3. The average methane potential measured in the laboratory was almost twice as high as the remaining methane potential predicted for the period of 2021-2093. The discrepancy could be due to (i) enhanced waste degradability as a result of five years of recirculation, (ii) enhancing effects of material perturbation during sampling and/or (iii) impeded on-site methane generation and gas and water transport limitations due to presence of plastics. Overall, the laboratory incubations demonstrate a significant potential for waste biodegradation still residing in the waste.

in-situ stabilization
leachate recirculation
landfill

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:6b4f645c-b3e1-4fa0-b2aa-793caa3aa5a3

CISA Publisher, Cagliari, Italy

2024-04-09

Proceedings SARDINIA 2023: 19th International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium

19th International Symposium on Waste Management, Resource Recovery and Sustainable Landfilling, 2023-10-09 → 2023-10-13, Forte Village Resort, Santa Margherita di Pula, Italy

Sardinia Symposium Proceedings, 2282-0027

Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.

Institutional Repository

conference paper

© 2023 T.J. Heimovaara, J. Gebert, A.C. Kanen, P.N. Meza Ramos