Investigation and evaluation of methane production using standard mathematical models by municipal solid waste

Due to the increasing use of biomass technologies, especially methane gas produced from the decomposition of organic matter in municipal solid waste and its use as a source of energy production, and the importance of methods used in estimating methane gas and Energy production, a study based on the use of mathematical models to estimate the methane gas produced at the Mashhad landfill.

This research was conducted in 1398 in Mashhad. The method used in this study is based on the use of IPCC mathematical models developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

According to mass balance and stoichiometric calculations performed for two categories of fast biodegradable and slow biodegradable materials, about 53.89% of the total landfill gases are methane and 46.11% are carbon dioxide. According to the calculations, the potential for methane production capacity is 115.33 cubic meters of methane per megagram of waste and the methane production rate is 0.021 per year. The data were analyzed in Landgem software.

According to the results obtained in 1414, the maximum volumetric flow of methane produced is 2.6×107 cubic meters per year. Also, the high and low thermal values of landfill gas are 21.484 and 19.361 megajoules per cubic meter, respectively. In case of direct use of landfill gas in power generators, in 1414, the highest net output power with high and low thermal value of landfill gas can be obtained 11503.633 kw and 10366.83 kw, respectively.