Landfills are the third largest source of anthropogenic CH4 in the United States, and there is potential for reduction in this source of greenhouse gases and other contaminants. The objective of this work was to contrast emissions of CH4 and non-methane organic compounds (NMOCs) from landfill cells covered with soil or a biologically active cover consisting of yard waste compost. On the basis of four field campaigns over 14 months, CH4 emissions from the biocover (BC) varied from -1.73 to 1.33 g m(-2) d(-1), with atmospheric uptake measured in 52% of tests. BC emissions did not increase when the gas collection system was turned off. Uptake of atmospheric CH4 was measured in 54% of tests on the soil cover (SC) when the gas collection was system active and 12% when the gas collection system was off. Many (26%) relatively high fluxes (>15 g m(-2) d(-1)) were measured from the SC as were some dramatic effects due to deactivation of the gas collection system. In tests with positive emissions, stable isotope measurements showed that the BC and SC were responsible for oxidation of 55% and 21% of the CH4 reaching the bottom of the respective cover. Seven of the highest 10 NMOC emissions were measured in the SC, and 17 of 21 fluxes for speciated organic compounds were higher in the SC. The relationship between CH4, NMOC, and individual organic compound emissions suggested a correlation between CH4 and trace organic oxidation. BCs can reduce landfill gas emissions in the absence of a gas collection system and can serve as a polishing step in the presence of an active system.

Landfill fugitive methane emissions were quantified as a function of climate type and cover type at 20 landfills using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Other Test Method (OTM)-10 vertical radial plume mapping (VRPM) with tunable diode lasers (TDLs). The VRPM data were initially collected as g CH 4 /sec emission rates and subsequently converted to g CH 4 /m 2 / day rates using two recently published approaches. The first was based upon field tracer releases of methane or acetylene and multiple linear regression analysis (MLRM) A closed, synthetically capped landfill covered with soil and vegetation with a gas collection system in a humid continental warm summer climate gave mostly background methane readings and average emission rates of only 0.09 g CH 4 /m 2 /day flux when measurable.Implications: The OTM-10 method is being proposed by EPA to quantify surface methane emissions from landfill covers. This study of 20 landfills across the United States was done to determine the efficacy of using OTM-10 for this purpose. Two recently published models were used to evaluate the methane flux results found with VRPM optical remote sensing. The results should provide a sense of the practicality of the method, its limitations at landfills, and the impact of climate upon the cover's methane flux. Measured field data may assist landfill owners in refining previously modeled methane emission factor default values.

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