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Project
Further Links
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Background
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In
Europe, landfills constitute the second largest source of anthropogenic
methane emissions. Methane is explosive and contributes to global
warming with a factor of 23 compared to carbon dioxide. Due to reduced
gas production rates, utilisation or flaring of methane from old
landfills usually is no longer possible. The high number of existing
old landfills lacking treatment of residual emissions therefore bear a
risk potential to safety and the environment for many decades after
final waste placement.
The microbial oxidation of methane in biofilters or cover soils is
considered a viable and sustainable option for the treatment of these
landfill methane emissions. Methanotrophic bacteria consume methane
according to the following equation:
Although
several research projects have indicated the potential of engineered
landfill covers for successfully mitigating methane emissions technical
guidelines on how to design these covers and to quantitatively assess
their performance are still missing.
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