The potential of methane production using aged landfill waste in developing countries: a case of study in Colombia

The optimization of waste degradation and stabilization processes is an essential key aspect for the environmental performance and economic sustainability of waste management systems in developing countries like Colombia. However, assessing the feasibility of biogas production in landfills requires a reasonable level of accuracy for the generation of methane, a sufficient understanding of the underlying generation processes and their relation with the physicochemical characteristics of the waste and landfill disposal conditions. Source segregation of MSW is either poor or non-existing in Colombia, as in most developing countries, which makes difficult to predict landfill gas generation even with the aid of current landfill emissions models. Only a few studies have been conducted to characterize biogas and methane production potential of mixed MSW landfilled in Latin-American countries, with few studies reported in Brazil and in Colombia. In this study, we show the results of biochemical methane potential (BMP) tests with 4–5 years old samples of municipal solid waste (MSW) excavated from a landfill site located in Colombia. Collected samples were characterized and the easy and medium biodegradable fractions used in the experiments. The results show an average total production of 34.8 − 37.9 L CH4 kg-1 DM added which is comparable with similar studies using excavated landfilled waste of similar characteristics. These results suggest that considering the potential of methane production from landfilled waste in developing countries, it is an alternative that could be considered to enhance the environmental performance of landfill sites by reduction of the emissions of uncontrolled CH4 and promote the use of non-conventional energy sources.

• Autores: Caicedo Concha, Diana Milena; Sandoval Cobo, John Jairo; Colmenares Quintero, Ramón Fernando; Marmolejo Rebellón, Luis Fernando; Torres Lozada, Patricia; Heaven, Sonia
• Tipo de recurso: Article of journal
• Fecha de publicación: 2019
• Institución: Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia
• Repositorio: Repositorio UCC
• OAI Identifier: oai:repository.ucc.edu.co:20.500.12494/17458
• Acceso en línea: https://doi.org/10.1080/23311916.2019.1664862; https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12494/17458
• Palabra clave: Desarrollo sostenible; Potencial bioquímico de metano; Países en desarrollo; Residuos sólidos urbanos envejecidos; Sustainable development; Biochemical methane potential; Biogas; Developing countries; Aged municipal solid waste
• Rights: openAccess
• License: Atribución