Quantification of Gas Emissions from Municipal Solid Waste by Biochemical Methane Potential (BMP) Assay Method Using Leachate and Waste Water Sludge as Inoculum

Landfill is one of the major sources of global warming. Landfill gas (LFG) generated from decomposition of municipal solid waste (MSW) mainly consists of methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) as greenhouse gases. In the present study, landfill gas (LFG) emission has been quantified using one of the most widely used biochemical methane potential (BMP) assay method in the laboratory. Leachate collected from Mittaganahalli landfill site in Bengaluru during the rainy season and waste water sludge (WWS) collected from the waste water treatment plant of the institute has been used as inoculums. Preliminary studies have been conducted to understand the physical composition of MSW samples, chemical characteristics of leachate and WWS samples. BMP serum bottles containing mixture of MSW and inoculums with varied substrate to inoculum ratio were incubated at 45 °C and LFG emission was monitored for a period of approximately thirty days. This study presents the results obtained from the aforementioned BMP tests. Extrapolation of results obtained in this study assists in understanding the behavior of MSW in landfills, its contribution to global warming and the design of landfills as well as power generation units using methane as source of energy.