Gas Production Parameters in Sanitary Landfill Simulators

Abstract

The decomposition of shredded municipal refuse was studied in 19 drums (208 1). Gas production and composition were monitored for two years. The addition of old, anaerobically degraded refuse as a seed of anaerobic bacteria and the neutralization of the refuse were the two techniques which stimulated methane production. Yields of 80-150 1 of methane per kilogram of dry, grindable, volatile solids were measured. The addition of anaerobic sewage sludge, acetate, and the initial removal of oxygen from a drum, were not stimulatory. Initially, it was the development of the methanogen population and not polymer hydrolysis which limited methane production.