Landfill

What is Landfill Gas / Landfill Biogas?

Landfill gas is created by the action of microorganisms within a landfill. A landfill site is a site for the disposal of waste materials by burial. Historically, landfills have been the most common method of organised waste disposal and remain so in many places around the world. Some landfills are also used for waste management purposes, such as the temporary storage, consolidation, and transfer, or processing of waste materials.

The action of microorganisms within a landfill includes the evaporation of volatile organic compounds, chemical reactions between waste components and microbial action. The emitted gas consists of 40-60% methane, and the rest mostly carbon dioxide. Trace amounts of other volatile organic compounds (mainly simple hydrocarbons) also compromise the remaining 1%.

Why is Landfill Gas Monitoring necessary?

Landfill gas monitoring is necessary because legislation requires that landfill gas is safely removed to avoid a physical explosion due to the build-up of pressure beneath the cap. Safe disposal usually entails burning such as flare stacks, internal combustion engines or by processing to produce Methane gas fuel. For large sites with access to power distribution, infrastructure internal combustion engines are used to generate electricity which is fed into the local electricity grid.

Instead of escaping into the air, landfill gas can be captured, converted, and used as a renewable energy resource. Using landfill gas helps to reduce odours and other hazards associated with its emissions, and prevents methane from migrating into the atmosphere and contributing to local smog and global climate change.

All of the above safe disposal processes require the measurement of the Methane content (and in many cases the CO2 concentration). Edinburgh Sensors provide gas sensors for both Methane and CO2 that can be integrated into landfill biogas processing systems enabling easy monitoring of these gases.

If you are interested in the specific applications of gas sensing for landfill gas monitoring and would like to learn more, follow the links below.

• This application note discusses Methane and Carbon Dioxide sensing for landfill gas monitoring.
• In this recent article about waste to syngas production, we discuss how our range of NDIR sensors can be used to measure landfill gas emissions.
• Measuring gases produced by waste gasification.

Which Edinburgh Sensors products are suitable for Landfill Gas Monitoring?

Edinburgh Sensors offer several easy-to-use landfill biogas monitoring solutions for landfill gas. You can view these solutions below. If you still can’t find what you’re looking for then get in touch with a member of our team. We would be delighted to assist you with a bespoke solution to meet your landfill gas requirements.