A potential of the biogas generating and energy recovering from municipal solid waste

This project aimed to simulate a sanitary landfill cell at the pilot scale and used a lysimeter to assess and quantify the volume of biogas produced by municipal solid waste (MSW), with a composition similar to that disposed in municipal sanitary landfill, in Itajubá, Brazil. The methodology of this study included: the preparation and filling of an experimental cell landfill; the measurement of the biogas pressure, temperature and volume; the determination of the potential for methane generation (in m3 of CH4/kgMSW); and the determination of the MSW substrate parameters before and after closing the lysimeter (including COD, BOD, TS, VS, etc.). The results obtained by demonstrating the potential for methane generation ranged from 25.95 m3 CH4/tMSW in PHASE I to 291.79 m3 CH4/tMSW in PHASE II and 0.87 m3 CH4/tMSW in PHASE III. All of the values that resulted from these PHASES studies matched the USEPA values for the lysimeters operated from 1 to 3 years (0.2-400 m3/t), including the low production value of PHASE III. The PHASE II value was more consistent with the default USEPA LandGem L0 value (170 m3/t).