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In Situ Evaluation of Landfill Gas Emission through Intermediate Cover with Co-Extruded Ethylene Vinyl Alcohol Geomembrane
Abstract
Landfill gas (LFG) is a natural byproduct of the decomposition of organic matter in landfills under anaerobic conditions. LFG is the third-largest source of methane gas in the U.S. and includes hazardous and strongly odorous gas that is often a nuisance to landfill neighbors, resulting in strained relationships with the community. As one of the alternatives controlling LFG during the operation of a landfill, a co-extruded geomembrane (GM) with an Ethylene Vinyl-alcohol (EVOH) layer sandwiched between two inner low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) layers have been introduced to reduce the LFG emission. This study evaluated the performance of EVOH GM as an intermediate cover on reducing LFG emission in comparison to that of conventional LLDPE and soil-alone covers. To investigate the field implementation of EVOH GM, in-situ emissions of methane among LFG from composite intermediate cover consisting of soils with conventional LLDPE or co-extruded EVOH GM were comparatively evaluated. The field monitoring was performed for more than ten months in an operating landfill located in Nebraska to consider the seasonal effect and aging of waste from the field pilot testing site designed and constructed to minimize the boundary effect of the cover. Also, transport of odiferous landfill gas [e.g., Hydrogen sulfide (H2S)] through intermediate covers with the gas collection system was evaluated. The effects of the gas collection system, the type of geomembrane on the gas transport, and the combined condition were separately investigated. Moreover, this study evaluated the impact area of odiferous gas (i.e., H2S) from an operating landfill with three different intermediate covers − including soil alone, LLDPE GM, or EVOH GM − and demonstrated the performance of the different cover cases to reduce odor dispersion. The effects of topography, meteorology, and gas emission, were considered in the simulation. This study shows that compared with traditional GM, EVOH GM can effectively reduce the emission of LFG and increase the gas collection system efficiency, also can reduce the trouble of odor to nearby residents.
Subject Area
Civil engineering
Recommended Citation
Feng, Yuan, "In Situ Evaluation of Landfill Gas Emission through Intermediate Cover with Co-Extruded Ethylene Vinyl Alcohol Geomembrane" (2021). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI28769088.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI28769088