Temperature Effects: Methane Generation from Landfill Samples

The objective of this investigation was to study the impact of temperature variations on the rate of methane generation from solid waste. The temperatures investigated ranged from 21°C to 48°C. Two approaches were applied. These were short term residence at seven different temperatures and intermediate term residence at two different temperatures. For the short term studies, samples were obtained from the Freshkills landfill (M.Y.) and the Operating Industries landfill (Calif.). Three samples were used in the intermediate term studies, and were from Palos Verdes landfill and Menlo Park landfill, both in California. From the short term results, energy of activation values of 22.4 kilo calories per mole to 23.7 kilo calories per mole were calculated. The intermediate term results produced values ranging from 18.7 to 21.8 kilo calories per mole. From the results it was concluded that some minor population shifts occurred with minor temperature changes but all of the energy of activation values were higher than any previous reportings. In addition, the temperature of 41°C was found to be the optimum for methane generation on a short term basis.