Optimization of first order decay gas generation model parameters for landfills located in cold semi-arid climates

Canada has one of the highest waste generation rates in the world. Because of high land availability, land disposal rates in the province of Saskatchewan are high compared to the rest of the country. In this study, landfill gas data was collected at semi-arid landfills in Regina and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and curve fitting was carried out to find optimal k and Lo or DOC values using LandGEM, Afvalzorg Simple, and IPCC first order decay models. Model parameters at each landfill were estimated and compared using default k and Lo or DOC values. Methane generation rates were substantially overestimated using default values (with percentage errors from 55 to 135%). The mean percentage errors for the optimized k and Lo or DOC values ranged from 11.60% to 19.93% at the Regina landfill, and 1.65% to 10.83% at the Saskatoon landfill. Finally, the effect of different iterative methods on the curve fitting process was examined. The residual sum of squares for each model and iterative approaches were similar, with the exception of iterative method 1 for the IPCC model. The default values in these models fail to represent landfills located in cold semi-arid climates. The use of site specific data, provided enough information is available regarding waste mass and composition, can greatly help to improve the accuracy of these first order decay models.