The effects of the Athens-Clarke County Landfill methane emissions on air quality. Nisha M. Patel University of Georgia December 2017

Transcription

1 The effects of the Athens-Clarke County Landfill methane emissions on air quality Nisha M. Patel University of Georgia December 2017

2 Abstract: The impacts of the emissions from landfills can have a large effect on the overall air quality of the earth. This research paper looks at the emissions of a specific landfill in Georgia. It looks at the Athens-Clarke County Landfill in the United States to see if there are major gas emissions of methane. The research used the GAS Alert Max XT II to measure the gas emissions found in the air at three different area of the landfill and two sites surrounding it. The device measured for three gases in the air. They were LEL (lower explosive levels) methane, hydro sulfide (H2S) and carbon monoxide. It also measures oxygen. The readings were as such for all sites: 0% for LEL methane, 0 ppm (parts per millions) for H2S and 0 ppm for carbon monoxide. The reading for oxygen was found to be 20.9% at all sites, which is within the normal range. The findings also show that the air quality was the same at the landfill and the two surrounding sites. These findings point to the fact that the landfill is not emitting amounts of methane that are effecting the air quality. Introduction: There are many options when it comes to the management of solid waste. The most commonly used method is the use of landfills (Giusti, 2009). 50% of municipal land waste that is produced in the United States will end up in a landfill (Sadasivam & Reddy, 2014). The landfill located at the border of Athens- Clarke County (ACC) and Oglethorpe County in Georgia manages nonhazardous municipal land waste. The ACC landfill has 43 gas extraction wells on site. It ranges 455 acres and is being expanded into Oglethorpe County by 40 acres. The effect of gas emissions, especially methane, can have detrimental effects on the air quality (Xu, Lin, Amen, Welding, & McDermitt, 2014). It is a large concern in impacting global warming (Xu et al., 2014). Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and is predicted that in the next 100 years will have a global warming potential 25 times that of carbon dioxide (Agamuthu et al., 2015). Methane emissions from landfills account for 16.4% of the total anthropogenic methane emissions in the United States (Sadasivam & Reddy, 2014). This research looks to find if the emissions of the ACC landfill has any effect on the air in the surrounding community. The results of this research can be used to either show that there is change that needs to occur in the health quality and the management of the landfill or it be used to implement the practices and the waste management to other landfills so that they too can keep the harmful emissions from affecting the surrounding communities. Materials Equipment The gas emissions were measured with the tool GAS Alert Max XT II. This device measures the emission of the four gases, hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide, methane, and oxygen. The methane is measured in LEL (lower explosive level) methane. After the device has been turned on the inlet will need to be blocked and unblocked. After the device self-tests and makes sure that the pump is working it will start sucking in air to get a reading of the gases in the air. This

3 was the only tool to measure the emissions in the air and obtain the data presented in this paper. Measures The device that was used lists the low readings to be 10 H2S ppm, 35 CO ppm, 19.5% oxygen and 10% LEL (methane) and the high to be 15 H2S ppm, 200 CO ppm, 23.5% oxygen and 20% LEL (methane). These ranges were used to determine whether the quality of the air has been contaminated with greenhouse gas emissions. There was a control used in this study. The control was a site that was 10.6 miles away from the landfill. The readings were measured inside this site and outside. The indoor control reading was measured to see if there was a difference in whether the readings were vastly different depending on if they were taken indoors or outdoors and to see if the device is sensitive enough to pick up such differences. The outdoor reading served as a control for all outdoor readings and whether the emissions are detectable by the device. Methods: The controls for the readings were taken at two different sites. One of the controls was indoors in a closed room. The other was outside the building. This control site is approximately 10.6 miles away from the landfill. Readings were also taken in communities around the site. These were all taken outside. One site was Billups Groves Church. The other was at the entrance to the ACC Landfill. The Billups Grove Church is approximately.5 miles from the entrance of the landfill and about 2 miles away from the sites the landfills and the entrance is at maximum 1 mile from the active site where the waste is dumped. At the landfill, three different dumping sites were used to measure emissions. One was an active site, another was a closed site and the last was a hybrid. The time of the day that the readings were taken for both the control sites, surrounding sites of the landfill and the landfill were the same. They were all conducted from 2:00 PM and ended before 3:00 PM. Results: The results show that the quality of air is not affected by the emissions in the landfill. The readings for the air quality stayed consistent in all sites that were sampled. The readings for the indoor were as such 0 ppm for H 2 S, 20.9% for Oxygen, 0 ppm for CO and 0% for LEL methane. The measures for the outdoor readings were 0 ppm for H2S. 20.9% for oxygen, 0 ppm for CO and 0% for LEL methane. The readings for both indoors and outdoors were the same. The readings for the two surrounding sites were the same. The reading at the Billups Grove Church and the entrance were 0 ppm for H2S, 0 ppm for CO, 20.9% for oxygen and 0% for LEL methane. The readings at the landfill itself were taken in three different areas. One was an active dumping site, another one that had been closed and the last was a hybrid. The readings for all three places were found to be the same with readings of H2S was 0 ppm, 0 ppm for CO, 20.9% for oxygen and 0% for LEL methane. These numbers show that the oxygen levels in all places

4 were in the normal range. The reading of 0 for the three gases can be interpreted to many different things. This will be further discussed further in the discussion section of the paper. Discussion: Emissions from landfills, especially methane emissions, have been found to have an effect on air quality. The findings of this research show that the air quality has not been affected by the Athens Clarke County Landfill. The measures for the H2S were 0 ppm for all sites, this includes the three different sites at the landfill, the two surrounding sites and at the control sites. This indicates that there was no hydrogen sulfide found in the air. The carbon monoxide readings were found to be 0 ppm in all sites as well. The LEL methane was found to be 0% in the air that was tested. The findings are the landfill were the same as there were in other sites. This can mean that the emissions of the landfill are not harmful to the air. The readings for oxygen were 20.9% at all sites, indicating that the levels of oxygen are normal. While previous research has found emissions of methane from landfills (Sadasivam & Reddy, 2014), in this research there were no impacts found in the air. It is probable that the gas extractions wells at the ACC Landfill are effective and are converting the greenhouse gases emitted into reusable energy so the air is not being affected by the gases. It is also probable that the sensitivity of equipment was not able to pick up the number of emissions in the air resulting in zero for the readings. Another possible explanation for the data is the effect of the barometric pressure. According to (Xu et al., 2014), it has been found that the barometric pressure can also have an effect on methane emissions. These limitations are further discussed in the section below. Limitations There are limitations to this study. One limitation is that the device that was used to measure the emissions in the air is not sensitive enough to pick up the gases in the air. Another limitation is that the weather affected the emission levels in the air. The readings at the landfill site were taken one day after two days of rain. The readings were taken on the 11 th of October and it had rained.91 inches on the 8 th and.61 inches on the 9 th. Whereas, the outdoor control readings were taken on a day that it had not rained in the last 9 days and when it had only been.07 inches. The readings at the two surrounding sites were taken on the same day as the controls readings had been. A third limitation is that this research only used one method for measuring the quality. To make this research stronger, different equipment would decrease the bias of a device or any error that it makes. Further Research To make a conclusion about the effect the Athens Clarke County Landfill has on the air quality, there needs to be further research conducted. Further research can be conducted to find if the gas extraction wells have an impact on the number of gases are being emitted into the air. The extraction wells are pulling methane to make energy and this could lead to the possible decrease in the amount that is being found in the air. In further research, multiple deceives with higher sensitivities should be used to measure the gases in the air to find significant data.

5 Conclusion: With the findings of this study, the air quality of the ACC Landfill is not contaminated with high readings of LEL methane, hydro sulfide or carbon monoxide. It was also found that the emissions from the landfill are not effecting the air surrounding the landfill. Although this study is not conclusive in finding significant data on the effects of greenhouse gas emissions on the air quality, previous research shows that these emissions are contributing to deteriorating air quality (Xu et al., 2014). This research points to the possibility that gas extraction wells are very effective in reducing methane emissions in the air and they should be studied further.

6 References: Agamuthu, P., Cheah, W., Rahedah, S., Nithyarubini, T., Lim, B., & Jayanthi, B. (2015). Enhancement of landfill methane oxidation using different types of organic wastes. Environmental Earth Sciences, 73(5), Giusti, L. (2009). A review of waste management practices and their impact on human health. Waste Management, 29(8), Sadasivam, B. Y., & Reddy, K. R. (2014). Landfill methane oxidation in soil and bio-based cover systems: a review. Reviews in Environmental Science and Bio/Technology, 13(1), Xu, L. K., Lin, X. M., Amen, J., Welding, K., & McDermitt, D. (2014). Impact of changes in barometric pressure on landfill methane emission. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 28(7),