INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Volume 4, No 5, 2014

© Copyright by the authors - Licensee IPA- Under Creative Commons license 3.0

Research article ISSN 0976 – 4402

Landfill mining: a case study from Ghazipur landfill area of Delhi

Manju Rawat Ranjan1, AL. Ramanathan2, Ashutosh Tripathi, Pawan Kumar Jha
1
Assistant Professor, Amity Institute of Environmental Sciences (AIES),
Amity University, NOIDA, UP.
2
Professor, School of Environmental Sciences (SES), JNU, New Delhi
doi: 10.6088/ijes.2014040404530

ABSTRACT

Unsecure landfill areas are contributors of soil, air and water pollution around the site. Beside
that green house gases (GHG) emission from landfill areas is concern to the global warming.
In the present study the methane and nitrous oxide were analysed in Ghazipur landfill area of
Delhi. The Ghazipur landfill area is one of the biggest and oldest landfill areas of Delhi. The
municipal solid waste is indiscriminately disposed here since last 30 years and the landfill
area has become mountain of waste. Landfill mining is process of recovering valuable
recyclable materials, which have previously been landfilled. This landfill area is being
converted into waste to energy plant, where garbage will be mined to convert into refuse
derive fuel (RDF) to be used for energy generation and the ten acre of landfill area is given to
Gas Authority of India (GAI) for mining methane and other gases to be used as fuel. The
field experiment was also done to estimate methane and nitrous oxide emission from landfill
areas of Ghazipur and the range of methane emission flux was 18 mg/m2/h lowest in winter
sample and highest 264 mg/m2/h in summer sample. The range of nitrous oxide emission was
estimated as 230-1730 μg/m2/h, if the extraction rate and calorific value of emitted gas is
large enough then it could be utilised to generate electricity.

Keywords: Global warming, Landfill area, Methane, MSW, Nitrous oxide.

1. Introduction

Landfill is considered as one of the most popular method of disposal of Municipal solid waste
(MSW) in India. The typical composition of MSW in India is around 40-60% of organic
waste, 30-40% of earthen materials, paper, metals, plastics, leather etc. (Table 1). Every city
in India has one or two MSW disposal landfills. Most of these landfills in metro cities are
operational since more than 10 years or more. The municipal solid waste dispose in most of
the landfills is done without segregation so it contains large amount of valuable materials in
it. As, the MSW in India has around 40-60% of biodegradable waste under anaerobic
condition it generates methane, which has almost 21 times more global warming potential
(GHP) than CO2 equivalent. With the nitrification and denitrification process results in
formation of N2O, this has global warming potential as 310 times higher than CO2 equivalent.

Table 1: Physical characteristics (% by weight) of MSW in Indian metro cities

fine
Name of Glass earth Compostable
Paper Textile Leather Plastic Metals
city Ash and matter
others

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 Landfill Mining: A Case Study from Ghazipur Landfill Area of Delhi

Ahmedabad 6.0 1.0 – 3.0 - - 50.0 40.00

Bangaloru
8 5 – 6.0 3.0 6.0 27.0 45.00
Mumbai
15 3.14 - - 0.80 0.40 35.0 37.5

Kolkata - - - 1.54 0.66 0.24 35.0 46.58

Delhi
3.62 0.52 0.85 4.17 0.45 0.49 36.56 53.34
Lucknow
4.0 2.0 - 4.0 - 1.0 49 40
Chennai
6.45 - 1.45 7.04 0.03 - 34.65 47.24
Source: Rawat et al, (2011)

In landfills the organic components in the municipal refuse results in GHG emission (3%)
under aerobic and anaerobic condition. The average composition of landfill gases is 45-60%
methane and 40- 60% carbon dioxide, 2-5% Nitrogen gas, < 1% hydrogen sulphide and non-
methane organic compounds (NMOCs) and there composition is given in Table 2. The study
done by Singhal and Pandey, (2001) showed that methane emission will increase from 6 Tg
to 40 Tg in 2047 (Figure 1). Delhi has three operational landfill areas at present i.e., in Okhla,
Ghazipur and Bhalswa (Figure 2). These landfill areas are situated at South of Delhi, East
Delhi and North Delhi respectively. These landfills are receiving MSW from various parts of
Delhi (Table 3). The Ghazipur landfill area is selected for present study, this landfill area is
one of the oldest and largest landfill areas of Delhi, which is receiving solid

Table 2: Typical Composition of Landfill Gases in Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Sites.
Component In Percent
Methane 45–60
carbon dioxide 40–60
Nitrogen 2–5
Oxygen 0.1–1
Ammonia 0.1–1
NMOCs (non-methane organic compounds) 0.01–0.6
NMOCs commonly found in landfills include
acrylonitrile, benzene, 1,1-dichloroethane, 1,2-cis
dichloroethylene, dichloromethane, carbonyl
sulfide, ethyl-benzene, hexane, methyl ethyl
ketone, tetrachloroethylene, toluene,
trichloroethylene, vinyl chloride, and xylenes.
Sulphides (hydrogen sulfide, dimethyl sulfide, 0–1
mercaptans are naturally occurring landfill
sulphides mixture, which gives it rotten-egg smell)
Hydrogen 0–0.2
carbon monoxide 0–0.2
Source: ATSDR

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 Landfill Mining: A Case Study from Ghazipur Landfill Area of Delhi

waste since approximately last thirty years. As almost all operational landfill areas is Delhi is
overflowing with garbage and became garbage mountain thus for its sustainable management
it is essential to reclaim it. Landfill mining and reclamation (LFMR) is one of the recently
used process for excavating and processing of landfill resources.

Source: Singhal and Pandey, (2001)

Figure 1: Methane generation from MSW in India

Thus, the process of landfill mining has been initiated in Ghazipur landfill area of Delhi.
With the support of the Planning Commission, this landfill area is being converted into waste
to energy plant by East Delhi Waste Processing Corporation (EDWPCL), where garbage will
be mined to convert into refuse derive fuel (RDF) and ten acres of land will be utilise by Gas
Authority of India (GAI) for mining methane and other gases (Pandey, 2013). South Delhi
have its waste to energy and compost plant, where it is utilising almost 40% of garbage
generated from South Delhi. In North Delhi an integrated municipal solid waste facility is set
up at Narela- Bawana. As, all operational landfill areas in Delhi are over exhausted thus
Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has proposed ten new sites for landfills, out of these
two sites are recommended, Hamirpur and Bakhtawar (Nair, 2013) but there are many
environmental issues raised for setting up MSW landfill site there . In this research work the
current situation of municipal solid waste management in Delhi is reviewed and data on
emission flux of methane and nitrous oxide from landfill areas is discussed.

Table 3: Showing three landfill sites of Delhi with their present scenario.
Waste
Area Start
Name Location received Zones supplying waste
(hectares) year
(Tpd)
Civil Lines, Karol Bagh,
Bhalswa North Delhi 26.2 1992 1500 Rohini, Narela, Najafgarh and
West
Shahdara (South), Shahdara
Ghazipur East Delhi 29.6 1984 2200 (North), City, Sadar Paharganj
and NDMC
Central, Najafgarh, South and
Okhla South Delhi 16.9 1996 1200
Cantonment Board
Source: Rawat et al, (2011)

2. Materials and Methods

Gas samples were collected from landfill sites in vials and analysed using following method.

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2.1 Sampling

Sampling was done twice in each season- winter and summer of 2009-10 from Ghazipur
Landfill Area of Delhi to inventories of emission flux of Methane and Nitrous Oxide.

2.2 Methane collection

Methane standard of 108 ppvm, EDT, London, UK was used for the analysis of methane in
collected samples. Methane gas was collected in Perspex chamber using ‘Close Chamber’
technique. The gas was collected, stored and transported in a number of vials and sealed
immediately after collection. Triplicates from every sampling site were taken. The landfills
temperature at 5 cm depth and atmospheric temperature were also continuously monitored.
The samples were collected in each hour started from 10 am to 4 pm.

2.3 Nitrous Oxide (N2O) collection

Nitrous oxide is collected in the similar manner as given above but in brown colour vials to
avoid its decomposition. The Merck standard of nitrous oxide standard was used for analysis.
The methane flux is measured using GC- FID, and Nitrous oxide is measured by GC using
ECD detector. Emission flux and rate was calculated by method of Verma et al, (1999).

Figure 2: Three Operational Landfill areas of Delhi with study site.

3. Results and Discussion

Methane and Nitrous oxide emission flux was studied from the Ghazipur landfill area of
Delhi (Figure 2). There are very few studies reported from India on field measurement of
methane and nitrous oxide emission from landfill areas of India. Most of the studies have
done on first order decay model or modified triangular method (MTM). In the present
research work, the field study was carried out so that the GHG contribution from landfill area
of India could be measured and landfill mining benefits can be analysed.

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 Landfill Mining: A Case Study from Ghazipur Landfill Area of Delhi

3.1 Methane flux from Ghazipur landfill area

Figure 3 gives the values of methane emission flux ranged as 96-264 mg/m2/h for summer
and for winter season range was as 18-51 mg/m2/h. The methane emission reported by
Börjesson and Svensson, (1997) for landfill areas of Sweden was as 0.54-320 mg/m2/h,
whereas Chen et al. (2008) had quantified methane emission from the closed landfill site as
8.8- 163 mg/m2/h. Jha et al, (2008) had estimated methane emission flux from two landfill
areas of Chennai, India as 1- 433mg/m2/h. Rawat et al, (2008) had also reported the
maximum methane emission flux from three operational landfill areas of Delhi as 300
mg/m2/h at Ghazipur landfill area due to presence of large quantity of organic waste from
slaughter house. The emission flux of methane was highest at 3-4 pm in afternoon, as
emission depends on temperature.

Figure 3: Methane emission flux from Ghazipur landfill areas of Delhi.

4. Nitrous Oxide flux from Ghazipur landfill area

The range of N2O emission flux found in summer samples was ranged as 826-1730 μg/m2/h
and winter season had the range of 230-973 μg/m2/h. The emission flux of nitrous oxide
reported by Jha et al, (2008) was 3-1200 μg/m2/h for the landfill areas of Chennai. The
concentration of nitrous oxide emitted from Ghazipur landfill area is higher than the flux
reported from Chennai landfills by Jha et al, (2008). This could be expected as the quantity of
MSW is more in Delhi landfill area and also organic matter is higher in Ghazipur landfill
areas due to waste from slaughter houses. Similarly, Zhang et al, (2009) has estimated the
annual average N2O flux from three landfill areas of China as 176-566 μg/m2/h. The nitrous
oxide gas has various industrial, bio-medical applications and used as a propellant gas in the
food industry.

Figure 4: Nitrous Oxide emission from Ghazipur landfill areas of Delhi.

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 Landfill Mining: A Case Study from Ghazipur Landfill Area of Delhi

5. Conclusion

The Municipal solid waste has dumped unscientifically in unsecure landfill areas in almost all
the big cities in India. These closed or operational landfills are contributing in greenhouse gas
(GHG) emission thus on global warming. There is estimate that waste sector contributes
approximately 5% to global greenhouse gases emission. There is need to initiate mitigation of
GHG emission from landfill areas. Beside that there is scarcity of land in Indian cities to be
used as landfills. Thus, mining of valuable resources from old or operational landfill is one of
the steps to recycle MSW and also mitigate GHG emission. The present study shows that
there is GHG emission from Ghazipur landfill area, which can be trapped and utilised. The
various agencies in Delhi has already started excavation and processing of resources, which
could be used for making RDF/ green electricity and collected methane as biofuel.

Acknowledgement

Authors are thankful to University Grant Commission (UGC) and DST (Department of
Science and Technology), Government of India for providing financial support to carry out
this research work. Authors from Amity University, NOIDA are thankful to their University,
for encouraging and promoting faculties to carry on their research work.

6. REFERENCES

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2. Börjesson G. and Svensson Bo. H., (1997), Seasonal and Diurnal Methane Emissions
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3. Chen I.-C., Hegde U., Chang C-H. and Yang S.S., (2008), Methane and Carbon
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4. Jha A.K., Sharma C., Singh N., Ramesh R., Purveja R. and Gupta P.K., (2008),
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