Micrometeorological measurements of N2O and CH4 emissions from a municipal solid waste landfill

Abstract

Micrometeorological measurements of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions were made at the decommissioned Park Road Landfill in Grimsby, Ontario, Canada between June and August 2002. The influence of precipitation, air temperature, wind speed and barometric pressure on the temporal variability of landfill biogas emissions was assessed. Gas flux measurements were obtained using a micrometeorological mass balance measurement technique [integrated horizontal flux (IHF)] in conjunction with two tunable diode laser trace gas analyser (TDLTGA) systems. This method allows for continuous, non-intrusive measurements of gas flux at high temporal resolution. Mean fluxes of N2O were negligible over the duration of the study (-0.23 to 0.02 microg m(-2) s(-1)). In contrast, mean emissions of CH4 were much greater (80.4 to 450.8 microg m(-2) s(-1)) and varied both spatially and temporally. Spatial variations in CH4 fluxes were observed between grass kill areas (biogas 'hot spots') and the densely grass-covered areas of the landfill. Temporal variations in CH4 fluxes were also observed, due at least in part to barometric pressure, wind speed and precipitation effects.

Impact of meteorological parameters on extracted landfill gas composition and flow

“…A very weak correlation was observed between wind speed and barometric pressure in summer 2016 (Table 3). This is in line with McBain et al (2005) who found a weak correlation between wind speed and barometric pressure in June-August…”

Impact of nitrate-enhanced leachate recirculation on gaseous releases from a landfill bioreactor cell

“…McBrain et al (2005) showed correlations between CH 4 -gas emissions and precipitation. Several authors have also reported significant negative correlations between atmospheric pressure and CH 4 emissions from landfills (Kjeldsen and Fischer, 1995;Czepiel et al, 1996;Börjesson and Svensson, 1997;McBrain et al, 2005). In this study, we tested these hypotheses on one location only (automated static chamber 3), for which the largest number of data was available.…”

“…À1900 to 3000 mg m À2 d À1 from an active site with a partial landfill collection system (Rinne et al, 2005), 25 to 46 mg m À2 d À1 from closed landfill cells irrigated with raw leachate (Lee et al, 2002), À0.06 to 40 mg m À2 d À1 from landfill sites covered with mineral soils (Börjesson and Svensson, 1997). McBrain et al (2005) did not measure any N 2 O emissions from an old covered cell.…”

“…During T1 and T2 period, the same correlation coefficients ranged between À0.91 and À0.99 and 0.91 to 0.97, respectively. During our study, atmospheric pressure varied between 1008 to 1033 hPa, which is considered to be a sufficiently large variation to induce an effect on surface gaseous releases (see McBrain et al, 2005). Atmospheric pressure was thus an important factor in the temporal variability of gaseous releases after recirculation.…”

Measuring methane emissions from a UK landfill using the tracer dispersion method and the influence of operational and environmental factors

“…7), with lower emissions measured at higher wind speeds. Studies have suggested wind induced advective gas transport to be a potential methane emission mechanism (resulting in pressure pumping) caused by development of pressure fields on the landfill surface during windy conditions (Poulsen, 2005;McBain et al, 2005;Massman et al, 1997). A modelling study (Poulsen, 2005) has shown that wind turbulence can impact gas emissions from landfills, especially in winter when the moisture content of the cover soil is higher and winds are stronger.…”