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TECHNICAL REPORTS

Vadose Zone Processes and Chemical Transport

Transport and Reaction Processes Affecting the Attenuation of Landfill Gas in Cover Soils

^a Univ. of British Columbia, Dep. of Earth and Ocean Sciences, 6339 Stores Road, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada
^b Technical Univ. of Denmark, DTU Dep. of Environment & Resources, Building 115, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark

^* Corresponding author (smolins{at}eos.ubc.ca).

Received for publication May 17, 2007. Methane and trace organic gases produced in landfill waste are partly oxidized in the top 40 cm of landfill cover soils under aerobic conditions. The balance between the oxidation of landfill gases and the ingress of atmospheric oxygen into the soil cover determines the attenuation of emissions of methane, chlorofluorocarbons, and hydrochlorofluorocarbons to the atmosphere. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of oxidation reactions on the overall gas transport regime and to evaluate the contributions of various gas transport processes on methane attenuation in landfill cover soils. For this purpose, a reactive transport model that includes advection and the Dusty Gas Model for simulation of multicomponent gas diffusion was used. The simulations are constrained by data from a series of counter-gradient laboratory experiments. Diffusion typically accounts for over 99% of methane emission to the atmosphere. Oxygen supply into the soil column is driven exclusively by diffusion, whereas advection outward offsets part of the diffusive contribution. In the reaction zone, methane consumption reduces the pressure gradient, further decreasing the significance of advection near the top of the column. Simulations suggest that production of water or accumulation of exopolymeric substances due to microbially mediated methane oxidation can significantly reduce diffusive fluxes. Assuming a constant rate of methane production within a landfill, reduction of the diffusive transport properties, primarily due to exopolymeric substance production, may result in reduced methane attenuation due to limited O₂–ingress.

Abbreviations: DGM, Dusty Gas Model • EPS, exopolymeric substances • LFG, landfill gas • CFC, chlorofluorocarbons • HCFC, hydrochlorofluorocarbons • CFC-11, trichlorofluoromethane • CFC-12, dichlorodifluoromethane • HCFC-21, chlorodifluoromethane • HCFC-22, chlorofluoromethane