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Biogas production in a tropical landfill: Long-term monitoring results and analysis of variables of influence

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Abstract

The use of landfill gas for power production is a very attractive option in tropical sanitary landfills mainly in developing countries, where the waste composition, water content, and the climate conditions are favorable to a fast depletion of waste organic matter and a robust short term biogas production response. In this paper, the results of long-term monitoring and methane extraction activities in a tropical landfill are presented, and the obtained results are analyzed taking into account the structure of the prokaryotic communities and the fugitive emissions through the temporary covers. It is shown that waste depletion by aerobic processes and fugitive emissions are probable related to the drop in the efficiency of the extraction system verified in the field and that the performance of the temporary covers is of paramount importance when implementing good practices of waste management in sanitary landfills. The fugitive emissions through temporary covers was estimated at about 12% of the methane production in the field, and the distance from drains and sampling depth were confirmed as having an influence on the environmental conditions for waste depletion and on the relative abundance of the bacterial communities.

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Data availability statement

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil

    Sandro Lemos Machado, Átila Caldas Santos, Miriam de Fátima Carvalho, Larissa Aparecida Góes Damasceno & Adriano Braga dos Santos

  2. BATTRE Bahia Tratamento de resíduos S.A, Bahia, Brazil

    Letícia Vardiero Almeida

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  1. Sandro Lemos Machado
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  2. Átila Caldas Santos
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  3. Miriam de Fátima Carvalho
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  4. Larissa Aparecida Góes Damasceno
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  5. Letícia Vardiero Almeida
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  6. Adriano Braga dos Santos
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Correspondence to Sandro Lemos Machado.

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Machado, S.L., Santos, Á.C., de Fátima Carvalho, M. et al. Biogas production in a tropical landfill: Long-term monitoring results and analysis of variables of influence. Environ Monit Assess 193, 485 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-021-09248-y

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