Web-Resol Tudo sobre Limpeza Urbana e Resíduos Sólidos!
Methane gas is a by-product of landfilling municipal solid wastes (MSW). Most of the global
MSW is dumped in non-regulated landfills and the generated methane is emitted to the atmosphere.
Some of the modern regulated landfills attempt to capture and utilize landfill biogas, a renewable
energy source, to generate electricity or heat. As of 2001, there were about one thousand landfills
collecting landfill biogas worldwide. The landfills that capture biogas in the US collect about 2.6
million tonnes of methane annually, 70% of which is used to generate heat and/or electricity. The
landfill gas situation in the US was used to estimate the potential for additional collection and
utilization of landfill gas in the US and worldwide. Theoretical and experimental studies indicate that
complete anaerobic biodegradation of MSW generates about 200 Nm3 of methane per dry tonne of
contained biomass. However, the reported rate of generation of methane in industrial anaerobic
digestion reactors ranges from 40 to 80Nm3 per tonne of organic wastes. Several US landfills report
capturing as much as 100 Nm3 of methane per ton of MSW landfilled in a given year. These findings
led to a conservative estimate of methane generation of about 50Nm3 of methane per ton of MSW
landfilled. Therefore, for the estimated global landfilling of 1.5 billion tones annually, the
corresponding rate of methane generation at landfills is 75 billion Nm3. Less than 10% of this
potential is captured and utilized at this time.
r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Artigos Relacionados
Check Also
Waste management poses challenges, but could unlock major environmental and economic gains
Every day, the city of Rio de Janeiro, one of the largest metropolises in the Southern Hemisphere, generates 17,000 tonnes of waste, ranging from large industrial debris to candy wrappers bought innocently at newspaper stands. While this waste presents a serious and urgent environmental challenge, it also fuels an increasingly significant portion of the economy, with benefits extending beyond financial gains. - When we look at developed European countries, many are already recycling between 40% and 50%, with some reaching 60%. From an economic standpoint, both recyclable materials and organic waste hold tremendous value - stated Adalberto Maluf, National Secretary for Environment and Environmental Quality at the Ministry of the Environment (MMA), during the Methane Forum: Climate Emergency Brake, at the Rio Nature and Climate Week. Citing a 2025 report, Maluf mentioned that Brazil literally throws away R$27 billion annually, while municipalities spend significantly more - R$45 billion - managing all this waste, often overlooking the environmental impact or economic potential buried in landfills and dumps. - We spend R$45 billion to collect and dispose of waste in landfills, yet we manage to recycle less than a third of the potential. I believe it will be necessary to review contracts, create performance-based remuneration mechanisms, and pay for both effectively sorted materials and those diverted from landfills - he added. According to the IBGE, 60.5% of Brazilian municipalities adopt some form of selective waste collection, and several initiatives serve as examples of how to manage city waste. In his panel presentation, Bernardo Ornelas, Project Coordinator at the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Urban Cleaning Company (Comlurb), highlighted Ecoparque do Caju, a national benchmark in waste management and recycling. There, received materials are sorted and can be used for biogas production, organic compounds for urban gardens, or human consumption, in the case of still...