Type of Document	Thesis
Author	Fleiger, Jillian Evalyn
Author's Email Address	jfleiger@hotmail.com
URN	etd-05082006-173822
Title	The Effective Reduction of Methane Emissions from Landfills using a Biocover Approach: Measuring methane oxidation using static chamber and stable isotope techniques
Degree	Master of Science
Department	Oceanography, Department of
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title Jeffrey Chanton Committee Chair Joel Kostka Committee Member Tarek Abichou Committee Member
Keywords	Landfill Methane Biocover Oxidation
Date of Defense	2006-04-25
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract Adding mulch to a landfill clay cover is a cost effective way to mitigate methane emissions from landfills. This was determined by setting up 3 plots (18x32m) at the Leon County landfill. Two bio-covers consisted of a 15-20 cm thick glass dispersion layer overlain by a layer of mulch either 60cm or 30cm thick over a temporary clay layer. Flux and isotope measurements were collected monthly from 8/3/2004 until 9/22/2005. In addition to the bio-covers, a control area was also measured. Overall, the deep treatment significantly decreased the flux from the landfill. The deep mulch had an average flux, geospatial mean and median flux of 19, 16 and 16 g CH4 m-2d-1. The shallow mulch had an average flux, geospatial mean and median flux of 121, 98 and 17 g CH4 m-2d-1. Finally the control had an average flux, geospatial mean and median flux 104, 98 and 98 g CH4 m-2d-1. Therefore, the deep mulch area decreased flux emissions five times compared to the no mulch area. The shallow mulch area was dominated by high emissions from a single area, a hot spot. Two biocover areas had frequent numbers of zero and negative fluxes while the control area had only one such observation. A negative flux indicates a downward flux of atmospheric CH4 into the landfill. In this case all of the CH4 coming from the landfill is oxidized before it reaches the surface, or else it is blocked by an impermeable zone below the surface. The deep mulch significantly increased the percent oxidation relative to the control. Based upon isotope-determined values, the average and median were 41 and 37%. The shallow mulch had an average and median of 21 and 22%.
Files	Filename       Size       Approximate Download Time (Hours:Minutes:Seconds)     28.8 Modem   56K Modem   ISDN (64 Kb)   ISDN (128 Kb)   Higher-speed Access    JF_Thesis.pdf 2.46 Mb 00:11:23 00:05:51 00:05:07 00:02:33 00:00:13   jill'sETD.pdf 1.71 Mb 00:07:55 00:04:04 00:03:34 00:01:47 00:00:09