Computer and Experimental Simulations of the Production of Methane Gas from Municipal Solid Waste

Abstract

Prediction of quantity and quality of gas produced after landfilling is not easy because it is strongly dependent on the hydrological and biological parameters. The objective of this study was to develop the LEAGA-I model by combining a hydrological module of unsaturated flow theory with a biological decomposition module in order to predict methane gas production, even carbon dioxide gas production, using a pilot scale lysimeter. For a biological module, especially, three-step procedures, i.e., hydrolysis of refuse, acid formation, and methane formation were applied. As a result of this study, the LEAGA-1 model, developed by combining a hydrological module with a biological module, not only provided more reasonable prediction of gas production during landfill stabilization, but also turned out to be a useful model, as a result of comparison of the simulated values with the observed values of lab-reactor.