Determination of methane production potential and leachate characterization in a real-scale young landfill

Solid waste landfills are the most used solid waste disposal method in our country as well as in the world. Solid waste landfills are being built in towns as well as in cities. As is known, two important environmental problems arising from solid waste landfills are leachate and landfill gas. Leachate waters have the potential to contaminate groundwater, especially due to very high organic pollution loads. Therefore, it is important to determine the pollution potential at the initial stage of storage. CH4, which is an element of the landfill gas, should not be released directly into the atmosphere because it is a greenhouse gas. Obtaining energy from CH4 gas is widely used in our country as well as all over the world. For the use of CH4 gas for electricity generation, first of all, the gas potential of the sanitary landfill must be determined. In this master's thesis, it is aimed to characterize leachate and determine the CH4 potential in a real-scale sanitary landfill, which is in its initial stage. Tavas Solid Waste Landfill was chosen as the study area. The important pollutant parameters in the leachate such as pH, ACM, BOD, COD, ammonium nitrogen and total nitrogen were analyzed for 1 year. The highest COD concentration in the leachate was measured as approximately 25000 mg/L in September. Two different models, LandGEM v3.02 and NV AFVALZORG, were used to determine the CH4 potential of the site. In addition, CH4 measurements were made at the site for 1 year. The models used were compared with the measurements made in the field. As a result of the CH4 measurements, the electricity generation potential that can be obtained from the area has been determined.