The objective of this paper is to assess the applicability of heat recovery at aerobic landfill as a geothermal heat source.This paper presents a case study of installing gas source heat recovery system at an aerobic landfill to collect landfillgas heat. The system consists of three subsystems, i.e., the air injection system including a biofilter, the heat pump systemand the thermal storage tank. A biofilter is necessary to remove the content of harmful compounds in the gas that entersthe heat pump. The field test results showed that temperature for landfill gas was increased slightly from 29 to 38oC inthe phase of aeration because of decomposition of organic carbon. The biofilter effectively treated CH4, H2S and NH3in the gas to prevent the corrosion of the heat pump. The coefficient of performance (COP) of the heat pump was 3.2,which means that 3.2kW of heat energy could be obtained by 1kW of electrical energy used for the heat pump. Thisstudy estimated the energy cost for the different heating systems. As a result, the heat pump can reduce the energy costby 75% compared with kerosene and diesel. Therefore, it is concluded that aerobic landfills are a suitable resource forheat recovery.

Mathematical models have been developed to evaluate methane emission from landfills. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) have provided first-order decay (FOD) models to estimate methane emission from landfills. The methane generation potential (L0) and the methane generation rate constant (k) are the two primary parameters in the FOD model. A major challenge in landfill gas modeling is estimating these parameters. The IPCC recommended that every country should develop country-specific emission factors appropriate for its circumstances and characteristics. The k value represents the rate constant associated with waste decomposition. In general, there are two different approaches for estimating a k value for a landfill. One uses actual field data in comparison with modeled data. However, this approach is limited by the spatial and temporal characteristics of landfill. Another approach is to collect samples of landfilled waste and then measure their biodegradability of waste as a function of waste age. As biodegradability is a surrogate for landfilling age, lower biodegradability would be expected in order samples. The objective of this study was to determine a k value using an anaerobic test (GB21). To achieve this objective, the GB21 which is used in Germany was conducted to estimate biodegradability of waste samples, and k value was determined based on FOD equation. Waste samples were collected at a landfill located in A City, Korea. The landfill is a valley-type landfill. It received municipal solid waste from 1990 to 2010. Food and paper wastes were the major fractions, constituting about 62.9% of the total amount disposed. However, the Ministry of Environment in Korea banned direct landfilling of food wastes in 2005, since then, food waste has no longer been disposed into landfills. In this study, the landfill site was separated into four areas based on landfilling age, and four samples were collected from each area. Cumulative biogas production for the waste excavated from the landfill varied from 6.9 to 35.8 Nl/kg-Dry Matter. Cumulative biogas production for landfilling age of 1 year was 35.8 Nl/kg-DM and it decreased to 6.9 Nl/kg-DM after 14 years. The k value obtained from this study was 0.156 yr-1 and was higher than the default k prescribed by the IPCC, which is 0.09 yr-1 in boreal and temperate climates. The higher k values obtained in this study can be explained by the high proportion of food waste disposed into the studied landfill. The default k values of rapidly degrading wastes including food waste and sludge are 0.185 yr-1. In addition a higher k value will result in predictions of more methane generation in the early years after waste burial, resulting in higher estimates of uncollected methane in greenhouse gas inventories. This work contributes to understanding decomposition rate of landfilled waste by examining biodegradability determination and providing k value for landfill.