Abstract

Methane budgets (production = emissions + oxidation + recovery) were estimated for six landfill sites in Sweden. Methane oxidation was measured in downwind plumes with a stable isotope technique (Chariton, J. P., et al., Environ. Sci. TechnoL 1999, 33, 3755-3760.) Positions in plumes for isotope sampling as well as methane emissions were determined with an optical instrument (Fourier Transform InfraRed) in combination with N2O as tracer gas (Galle, B., et al., Environ. Sci. TechnoL 2001, 35,21-25.) Two landfills had been closed for years prior to the measurements, while four were active. Measurements at comparable soil temperatures showed that the two closed landfills had a significantly higher fraction of oxidized methane (38-42% of emission) relative to the four active landfills (4.6-15% of emission). These results highlight the importance of installing and maintaining effective landfill covers and also indicate that substantial amounts of methane escape from active landfills. Based on these results we recommend that the IPCC default values for methane oxidation in managed landfills could be set to 10% for active sites and 20% for closed sites. Gas recovery was found to be highly variable at the different sites, with values from 14% up to 65% of total methane production. The variance can be attributed to different waste management practices

Published in

Environmental Science and Technology
2007, Volume: 41, number: 19, pages: 6684-6690
Publisher: AMER CHEMICAL SOC

SLU Authors

• Börjesson, Gunnar

  • Department of Molecular Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Renewable Bioenergy Research
Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/es062735v

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/15350