METHANE GENERATION POTENTIAL AND BIODEGRADABILITY OF MSW COMPONENTS

As an important parameter for estimation of methane generation from landfills, we
measured ultimate methane yields (M0
VS) of various municipal solid waste (MSW) components,
which were obtained by classifying bulk waste carried into S landfill in Korea. Food wastes
exhibited the highest M0
VS of 420mL CH4/g VS. Misc. organics, paper, textile, wood, sludge,
and leather showed M0
VS as high as 295, 285, 231, 213, 154, and 150mL CH4/g VS, respectively.
M0
VS of plastics and rubber was as low as 76 and 48mL CH4/g VS, respectively. For plastics and
rubber, which are known as nondegradable components, M0
VS was considered to result from
other degradable components intermixed during collection and transportation of bulk waste.
Food wastes and paper represented the highest biodegradability of around 70%. Misc. organics,
textile, and wood showed moderate biodegradability of around 50%. Biodegradability of sludge
and leather was in the range of 25-30%. Plastics and rubber showed almost no biodegradability
with the values less than 10%. Methane generation potential of bulk waste disposed at S landfill
in Korea was in the range of 37-88m3 CH4/Mg wet waste, and fraction of the degradable organic
carbon that can anaerobically decompose (DOCf) was estimated as 0.6 by considering waste
components except for plastics and rubber/leather.