Effect of leachate recirculation on the quantity of leachate production and gases emission in a MSW landfill in Iran

In this paper it was aimed to investigate the changes in leachate quantity and gas emission in municipal solid waste landfills due to leachate recirculation. For this purpose, two anaerobic cells in AradKouh (longitude=51°, 20', latitude= 35°, 27' degrees) with an area of 3250m2 were designed and constructed. One of the cells was equipped to the leachate recirculation system (southern cell) and thermometers in given levels were used to measure changes in temperature in the cells and its alternations due to recirculation in the southern cell. In addition, a gas meter to identify the type and amount of gases emitted was utilized. In a 30-month period, in both cells, the 21 amount of leachate, the alternations of the temperature and the volume of methane gas were measured and compared to determine the effect of leachate injection. Measured values indicate that temperature in the southern cell is approximately 6% more than the northern one which is due to increase moisture and anaerobic deterioration. In the monitoring period, from the northern cell, 351000(lit) leachate (equal to 7.4% weight of buried waste) and from the southern cell, 366000(lit) leachate (equal to 8% weight of buried waste) had discharged. In addition, methane emission from the south cell was almost 45% more than the north cell. The reason for these differences is the leachate recirculation in the southern cell.

Keywords:

AradKouh landfill , Leachate generation , Methane emission , Leachate recirculation