Landfilling has been and still remains an important means of municipal solid waste management but it poses a threat to the purity of the environment, especially air. In the coming years, a radical decline in the share of landfilling in waste disposal practices should not be expected. However, this is not to say that people are powerless in the face of the emission of harmful gases into the atmosphere, the spread of bioaerosols and odors. There are many ways of preventing the negative impact of landfills or protecting the environment against such an impact.
Some of these preventive and protective measures are described in Mitigation of Landfill Gas Emissions. Special attention is given to the application of anaerobic, aerobic and semi-aerobic bioreactor landfills for control of landfill gas emission. Different types of biotic systems for the oxidation of methane and trace gases, such as biocovers, biofilters, and biowindows, are also presented.
1 Landfilling of municipal solid waste in global perspective
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Current state of waste landfilling
1.3 Landfill gas impact on the environment
1.3.1 Landfill gas contribution to climate change
1.3.2 Landfill gas effect on the atmospheric chemistry
1.3.3 Local odour nuisance
1.3.4 Human health hazards
1.4 Role of waste landfilling in carbon budget
1.4.1 Landfills as a carbon repository
1.4.2 Landfill gas as renewable energy source
1.5 Strategies of mitigation for landfill gas emission
1.6 Summary
References
2 Characteristics of landfill gas
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Landfill gas composition
2.2.1 Factors influencing landfill gas composition
2.2.2 Characteristics of landfill gas components
2.3 Quantitative estimation of landfill gas production
2.4 Landfill gas utilization
2.5 Summary
References
3 Increasing landfill gas production and recovery
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Recirculation of liquids as a basis for an anaerobic bioreactor landfill
3.2.1 Increasing moisture content and water migration inside deposited waste
3.2.2 Other effects accompanying the supply of liquids to a landfill bioreactor
3.3 Technical requirements for anaerobic bioreactor landfill construction
3.4 Effects of liquids recirculating inside the landfill
3.5 Critical approach to anaerobic bioreactors landfill technology
3.6 Hybrid bioreactor landfill
3.7 Summary
References
4 Attenuation of greenhouse gas emissions via landfill aeration
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Fundaments of the aerobic decomposition of organic matter in landfill
4.3 Consequences of in situ landfill aeration
4.3.1 Landfill gas composition
4.3.2 Quality and quantity of landfill leachate
4.3.2.1 Changes in pH value
4.3.2.2 Reduction in leachate organic strength
4.3.2.3 Enhanced ammoniacal nitrogen removal
4.3.2.4 Changes in leachate alkalinity
4.3.2.5 Decrease in heavy metals concentration
4.3.2.6 Decrease in ecotoxicity of leachate
4.3.2.7 Increase in chloride concentration
4.3.2.8 Reduction in leachate volume
4.3.3 Deposited waste parameters
4.3.3.1 Landfill settlement
4.3.3.2 Reduction of organic matter content in waste
4.3.3.3 Temperature inside the landfill
4.4 Concepts of landfill aeration
4.4.1 Aerobic bioreactor landfill
4.4.2 Semi-aerobic landfill
4.4.3 In-situ aeration of old landfills
4.5 Methods of air supply to the landfill
4.5.1 Low pressure aeration
4.5.1.1 Active aeration without or with off-gas extraction
4.5.1.2 Passive aeration (air venting or over-suction system)
4.5.2 High pressure aeration
4.6 Advantages and disadvantages of the landfill aeration
4.7 Critical approach to the landfill aeration concept
4.8 Summary
References
5 Biological oxidation as a method for mitigation of LFG emission
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Fundaments of microbial removal of LFG components
5.3 Biooxidation of methane under aerobic conditions
5.3.1 Methane-oxidising microorganisms: Classification and habitat requirements
5.3.2 Pathway of aerobic methane biooxidation
5.3.3 Methanotrophs in landfill covers and biofilters
5.4 Biooxidation of VOCs under aerobic conditions
5.4.1 VOCs-oxidising microorganisms
5.4.2 Pathways of degradation of VOCs used as a primary substrate for bacteria growth
5.4.3 Cometabolic pathways of aerobic VOCs biodegradation
5.4.4 Substrate interactions affecting biodegradation of particular BTEXs
5.5 Factors determining efficiency of biological methods for mitigation of LFG emission
5.5.1 Parameters of filter bed material
5.5.2 Temperature of microorganisms growth
5.5.3 Composition of gas mixture
5.6 Technological approach to application of biological methods for mitigation of LFG emission
5.6.1 Forms of biotic systems for landfill gas mitigation
5.6.1.1 Landfill biocovers
5.6.1.2 Biowindows
5.6.1.3 Biofilters
5.6.1.4 Biotarps
5.7 Operating and control parameters of landfill gas biofilters
5.8 Quantitative approach to methane and VOCs removal in landfill covers and biofilters
5.9 Critical approach to LFG biofiltration
5.10 Summary
References
Biography
Małgorzata Pawłowska, Ph.D., Sc.D. is a researcher and lecturer working at the Faculty of Environmental Engineering of Lublin University of Technology. From 2012 she is a head of the Department of Alternative Fuels Engineering.
She received her M.Sc. of the philosophy of nature and the protection of the environment at the Catholic University of Lublin in 1993. In 1999 she received her Ph.D. in agrophysics after defence the thesis entitled: “A possibility of the reduction of methane emission form landfill by its biochemical oxidation in landfill cover—model study”, at the Institute of Agrophysics of the Polish Academy of Science.
Mrs. Pawłowska is an author and co-author of fifty five papers and book chapters, two monographs, one handbook on biofuels, five patents and several patent applications. She is also the co-editor of two monographs.
The major areas of her scientific interest is control of gas emission from landfills, with special attention to methane and BTEX biooxidation in landfill covers and biofilters. She is also working on biogas production from waste.
