In low carbon waste landfills the availability of water or a carbon source, or the
build up of toxic compounds appears to limit anaerobic gas generation. Thus oxygen consuming
chemical/biological reactions occur immediately after the waste is placed, but factors required
for anaerobic degradation become exhausted, perhaps because of limited permeability that also
appears to be a feature of this waste. Oxygen and its reaction products, principally carbon
dioxide, are removed by phase change from the gas filled pore space of the waste. This results in
the proportion of nitrogen in the pore gas rising to more than the 80% typical of atmospheric
composition. Nitrogen gas enrichment through oxygen removal can mean either negative
pressure within the landfill, or slow air ingress into the waste. New gas management and
monitoring techniques at such sites should reflect this different conceptual model.
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