A Study on the Determination Methodologies of Fraction of Degradable Organic Carbon (DOC) and Fraction of DOC Decomposed (DOCF) for Estimating Methane Emissions from Solid Waste Landfills
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recommended the first order decay (FOD) model for estimating methane emissions from solid waste landfills. However, selecting appropriate parameter is a major challenge in methane emission modeling. The degradable organic carbon (DOC) and the fraction of degradable organic carbon which decomposes (DOCF) are the two primary parameters in the methane generation potential (L0). The DOC is the amount of organic carbon that can be decomposed by biochemical reactions in microorganisms. Chemical analysis methods are currently available to measure the DOC including using total organic carbon and element analysis methods. However, chemical analysis methods are not appropriate for determination of the DOC, which indicated that the DOC should be measured by biochemical tests. In addition, these methods should consider a fossil carbon content that needs a complex and high cost of analysis. The DOCF is an estimate of the fraction of carbon that is ultimately degraded and released from landfills. However, no methodology is provided for determination of the DOCF in landfills. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to suggest methodologies for the determination of DOC and DOCF in solid waste landfills. A biochemical methane potential (BMP) test could be used to calculate the DOC because the BMP represents an upper limit on the methane potential of a waste, which corresponds to a maximal amount of degraded organic carbon. The calculation was based on the assumption that the DOCF is 100%. In this study, two methodologies were suggested to determine the DOCF in landfills. The first one uses a new equation (DOCF = 2.76W-0.44) with moisture content in the landfill that actual methane flux data are unavailable. Moisture content is a major ecological parameter on the anaerobic biodegradability of the solid waste in the landfill. Another methodology is to use L0,Landfill/L0,BMP ratio. The L0,Landfill could be determined by a regression analysis if methane flux data were available.