Biogas Estimation, Energy Potential and Carbon Footprint Assessment of a Tiruppur Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Site

Abstract

The growing volume of solid waste, particularly municipal solid waste (MSW), is a major source of concern, especially in urban areas. The anaerobic decomposition of solid wastes in landfills produces biogases such as methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxides or commonly termed as Landfill Gases (LFGs). Global warming is caused by both carbon dioxide and methane, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report suggests that methane is more powerful (28 times) than carbon dioxide in terms of global warming potential. With the right equipment, methane has a tremendous potential for energy production, and significant amounts of energy may be recovered from it. In the present research, the most common model for predicting the methane emissions viz a viz LandGEM 3.02 was employed for the unmanaged Tiruppur municipal solid waste. The population estimates were forecasted using the selected growth coefficient for various years during the study period. Biogas generation has increased over time, would continue to rise until 2036, when the maximum amount of biogas was recorded with a production rate of 5.221 × 10⁷ Mg per year. As seen in this study, Tiruppur’s highest productivity occurs one year after closure of the landfills and has huge potential for energy generation. The current research findings can be utilised to develop and measure the capacity of landfill methane extraction systems.