Short-term landfill methane emissions dependency on wind.

Short-term (2-10h) variations of whole-landfill methane emissions have been observed in recent field studies using the tracer dilution method for emissions measurement. To investigate the cause of these variations, the tracer dilution method is applied using 1-min emissions measurements at Sandtown Landfill (Delaware, USA) for a 2-h measurement period. An atmospheric dispersion model is developed for this field test site, which is the first application of such modeling to evaluate atmospheric effects on gas plume transport from landfills.

Quantifying capture efficiency of gas collection wells with gas tracers.

A new in situ method for directly measuring the gas collection efficiency in the region around a gas extraction well was developed. Thirteen tests were conducted by injecting a small volume of gas tracer sequentially at different locations in the landfill cell, and the gas tracer mass collected from each test was used to assess the collection efficiency at each injection point. For 11 tests the gas collection was excellent, always exceeding 70% with seven tests showing a collection efficiency exceeding 90%.

Performance of green waste biocovers for enhancing methane oxidation.

Green waste aged 2 and 24months, labeled "fresh" and "aged" green waste, respectively, were placed in biocover test cells and evaluated for their ability to oxidize methane (CH4) under high landfill gas loading over a 15-month testing period. These materials are less costly to produce than green waste compost, yet satisfied recommended respiration requirements for landfill compost covers. In field tests employing a novel gas tracer to correct for leakage, both green wastes oxidized CH4 at high rates during the first few months of operation - 140 and 200g/m(2)/day for aged and fresh green waste, respectively.

Photoacoustic infrared spectroscopy for conducting gas tracer tests and measuring water saturations in landfills.

Gas tracer tests can be used to determine gas flow patterns within landfills, quantify volatile contaminant residence time, and measure water within refuse. While gas chromatography (GC) has been traditionally used to analyze gas tracers in refuse, photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) might allow real-time measurements with reduced personnel costs and greater mobility and ease of use. Laboratory and field experiments were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of PAS for conducting gas tracer tests in landfills.

Measuring fluid flow properties of waste and assessing alternative conceptual models of pore structure.

Laboratory procedures were developed to obtain constitutive relations for fluid flow in refuse. Five different types of experiments were conducted for the same waste sample: a drainage experiment, multi step outflow experiment, total porosity measurement, saturated hydraulic conductivity test, and gas permeability tests. To investigate fundamental processes affecting water movement and moisture retention, samples consisted entirely of newspaper.

Quantifying factors limiting aerobic degradation during aerobic bioreactor landfilling.

A bioreactor landfill cell at Yolo County, California was operated aerobically for six months to quantify the extent of aerobic degradation and mechanisms limiting aerobic activity during air injection and liquid addition. The portion of the solid waste degraded anaerobically was estimated and tracked through time. From an analysis of in situ aerobic respiration and gas tracer data, it was found that a large fraction of the gas-filled pore space was in immobile zones where it was difficult to maintain aerobic conditions, even at relatively moderate landfill cell-average moisture contents of 33-36%.

Review of state of the art methods for measuring water in landfills.

In recent years several types of sensors and measurement techniques have been developed for measuring the moisture content, water saturation, or the volumetric water content of landfilled wastes. In this work, we review several of the most promising techniques. The basic principles behind each technique are discussed and field applications of the techniques are presented, including cost estimates.

Measuring seasonal variations of moisture in a landfill with the partitioning gas tracer test.

Seven pilot-scale partitioning gas tracer tests (PGTTs) were conducted to assess the accuracy and reproducibility of this method for measuring water in municipal solid waste landfills. Tests were conducted in the same location over a 12-month period, and measured moisture conditions ranged from possible dry waste to refuse with a moisture content of 24.7%.