Environmental Monitoring in Landfill

The problem of odour emissions is a recurring problem in landfills, composting plants and, in general, in all the plants that manage large amounts of biomass. In a plant of treatment of MSW (municipal solid waste), therefore, monitoring of emissions is extremely important to assess the environmental impact that this site involves.

Because of odour emissions and the impact that the landfill may have on the local population, Pollution S.r.l. (Italy) has felt the need to offer an analysis system for monitoring pollutants in the air. Currently the detection for environmental analysis are carried out in a discontinuous manner, taking air samples with canister and only afterwards being analysed in the laboratory. The absence of the continuous monitoring and the delay in the analytical response does not allow to promptly trace the migration of pollutants and make correlations with meteorological data.

The stage of continuous monitoring was performed using a microGC GCX and multipoint sampler MPX from Pollution Srl (Italy). The MPX draws in the samples to the GCX from a series of points within or along the perimeter of the landfill. Between the sampler and analyser a concentrator has been inserted to increase the sensitivity of the monitoring system.

Pollution GCX configured with two performance-enhanced modules is used for the fast analysis of landfill gases.

Plot-U column module (8m, 0.32mm x 30um) is responsible for the separation of CH4, CO2, and H2S. The second module is a OV-1 module (no polar phase 100% dimethylpolysiloxane) for the separation of methyl and ethyl mercaptane, dimethyl sulphide, acetic acid, butyric acid, propionic acid, valeric acid and limonene.

Using Pollution MC2 software it is possible to record the chemical composition of the sampling points. Furthermore, the GCX can send to the operator an SMS or e-mail that informs of exceeding of the imposed limit values. The operator can be connected to the analyser by a remote PC and display graphically the concentration profiles in the last hours.

The GCX provides a fast and reliable instrument for the environmental analysis in the landfill gas samples. Different components can be separated in less than 120 seconds. With the same configuration it is also possible to use the GCX for the analysis of the complex matrix of the biogas produced by the breakdown of organic matter and used as a renewable energy source.