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Quantifying Methane Abatement Efficiency at Three Municipal Solid Waste Landfills; Final Report
Citation:
Arcadis G&M. Quantifying Methane Abatement Efficiency at Three Municipal Solid Waste Landfills; Final Report. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-12/003, 2012.
Impact/Purpose:
EPA report
Description:
Measurements were conducted at three municipal solid waste landfills to compare fugitive methane emissions from the landfill cells to the quantity of collected gas (i.e., gas collection efficiency). The measurements were conducted over a multi-week sampling campaign using EPA Other Test Method-l 0 (OTM-IO) and a scanning GasFinder 2.0 methane Open-Path Tunable Diode Laser (OP-TDL) instrument (Boreal, Inc). At two of the sites, measurements were performed in the fall of 2009 and repeated in the spring of 2010. At the third site, measurements were conducted during the summer of 2010. The cells at Site A and Site C have not had waste added for several years. Officials at Site B had stopped adding waste to the measurement cell just prior to the summer 2010 measurement campaign. The total cell fugitive methane flux rate from the five measurement campaign varied from 2.5 to 580 million grams per day (Table E-I) and the gas collection efficiency varied from 35 to 85% (Table E-2). For two of the sites the landfill gas collection efficiency ranged from 70 to 85%. The default gas collection efficiency recommended for EPA's guidance for emissions inventories is 75% (EPA, 2008). None of the sites had any enforcement actions and all were meeting applicable Clean Air Act regulations.