Title: Methane Emissions From Different Landfill Categories(Cwm 141/97)
Author: S Atkins Environment Consultants W
Author: Environment Agency
Document Type: Monograph
Annotation: Environment Agency Project ID:EAPRJOUT_380, Representation ID: 101, Object ID: 1724
Abstract:
SUMMARY Methane is considered the second most important anthropogenic .-(hurnan- influenced) greenhouse gas, after carbon dioxide. The UK is committed to develop andapublish national inventories of greenhouse .gases and to take measures aimed at returning emissions of each greenhouse gas. to 1990 levels by 2000: -Additionally. the UK has agreed to a reduction of 12.5% in greenhouse gas emissions (relative to 1990 levels) by 2010. : 3This is part of a burden-sharing arrangement within the European Union to meet legally. binding targets for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions agreed with the,. United- Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at Kyoto. in December 1997, The aim of this project -is to provide the Environment Agency,. (the Agency) with an assessment methodology for. surface methane (CH,) emissions from different categories of. UK landfill sites, verified by .appropriate field measurements. This willa:aid the Agency in developing a strategy for methane emissions reduction and .help reduce uncertainties on emissions. estimates by quantifying. emissions from each category. The assessment.: methodology was to be applicable to site operators for .determining site specific emissions and appropriate remedial .works. This -project complements related studies, funded .by the then Department of theaEnvironment, .to estimate total UK -landfill methane emissions based a,. on field measurement. Surface methane flux was measured at 247 positions on 26 landfill. sites using specifically designed, enclosed chambers (flux boxes). Some measurements were repeated at different .. times of the year. Methane emissions ranged between 10-6.mg m? sal and 2 mg me2 s-r and formed a skewed distribution.with a peak between lO?and 3~10~ mg mm2 More than 80% s-r. of the flux box results were less than 10s3mg mm2 The median result .was just over 1O-4. s-l. mg m-a .sa*, which equates to about 5 litres CH, per hectare per hour.. These results, particularly the wide range of emissions: compare well with other intemationalstudies. Measurement of methane flux at different types of landfill- site showed that: l a good quality cap and full methane emissions;a l methane emissions are influenced primarily by gas control and cover characteristics. Other site features such as -waste depth, surface area, underlying geology, hydrogeology and containment/lining are secondary; 0 a well operated gas collection system and. a good cap can reduce emissions by around two -orders of magnitude, i.e., 90-99%; .. R and D Technical Report P233a site .gas control are highly effective for controlling Page.i l absolute methane emissions are site specific and it is difficult to quantify the effects of a variety of practices on different sites.. A landfill site with a well-engineered cap free of defects, and a well-operated gas controla system can achieve methane emissions as low as lo4 mg mm2 Sites without these systems s-l. may have surface methane emissions three orders of magnitude higher. In practice a target of 1 x 10m3mg me2sea over a defect-free cap would seem reasonable. The need for emissions reduction would then impact on the top 200/6 of landfill emitters. An assessment protocol is being devised in a follow-up project to help identify these high methane-emitting landfills. The estimated cost of methane emissions abatement for landfilled waste ranges from EO.02 to EO.05 m-j methane (228 to 570 tonne-r methane). ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like to thank Dr Martin Meadows for his stewardship of the project on behalf of the Agency, Dr Paul Nathanail, formerly Nottingham Trent University, now a Nottingham University, for his contribution to the spatial and statistical analysis of data, and Dr Martin Milton, National Physical Laboratory, for collaboration with. the Global Atmosphere Division project. R and D Technical Report P23 3a .. Page ii ME~NEEMXSIONSFROMDIFFERENTLANDFILL~ATEGORIES CONTENTS. EXECUTIVE SulMMARY LIST OF TABLES AND-FIGURES ABBREVIATIONS GLOSSARY .. ... ... ... ... ... .. .... ... ... .... ... .. ... .... .. ... ... .... ... .. .... ....~........................*........................................... 1 1.1 POLICY FRAME~VORK..................................................~ ..................................................................................... 1.2 PROJECT OB~C~VES ........................................................................................................................................ 1.3 STRUCTURE OFTHIS REPORT ............................................................................................................................. 1 3 4 1.
Publisher: Environment Agency
Subject Keywords: Pollution control; Environmental assessment; Landfill; Landfill gas; Methane; Emmission
Extent: 186
Permalink: http://www.environmentdata.org/archive/ealit:4466
Total file downloads: 22
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