A decision support tool for landfill methane generation and gas collection

Date published

2015-07-10

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Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Elsevier

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Type

Article

ISSN

0956-053X

Format

Citation

Harriet Emkes, Frédéric Coulon, Stuart Wagland, A decision support tool for landfill methane generation and gas collection, Waste Management, Volume 43, September 2015, Pages 307-318

Abstract

This study presents a decision support tool (DST) to enhance methane generation at individual landfill sites. To date there is no such tool available to provide landfill decision makers with clear and simplified information to evaluate biochemical processes within a landfill site, to assess performance of gas production and to identify potential remedies to any issues. The current lack in understanding stems from the complexity of the landfill waste degradation process. Two scoring sets for landfill gas production performance are calculated with the tool: (1) methane output score which measures the deviation of the actual methane output rate at each site which the prediction generated by the first order decay model LandGEM; and (2) landfill gas indicators’ score, which measures the deviation of the landfill gas indicators from their ideal ranges for optimal methane generation conditions. Landfill gas indicators include moisture content, temperature, alkalinity, pH, BOD, COD, BOD/COD ratio, ammonia, chloride, iron and zinc. A total landfill gas indicator score is provided using multi-criteria analysis to calculate the sum of weighted scores for each indicator. The weights for each indicator are calculated using an analytical hierarchical process. The tool is tested against five real scenarios for landfill sites in UK with a range of good, average and poor landfill methane generation over a one year period (2012). An interpretation of the results is given for each scenario and recommendations are highlighted for methane output rate enhancement. Results demonstrate how the tool can help landfill managers and operators to enhance their understanding of methane generation at a site-specific level, track landfill methane generation over time, compare and rank sites, and identify problems areas within a landfill site.

Description

Software Description

Software Language

Github

Keywords

Multi-criteria analysis, Landfill assessment, Landfill gas indicators, Methane generation, Waste management

DOI

Rights

This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Waste Management. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Waste Management, Volume 43, September 2015, Pages 307-318. DOI:10.1016/j.wasman.2015.07.003

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