Degradation of MSW during landfilling in China and its impact on GHG emission reduction

China attaches great importance to the issue of climate change and a series of policies and measures has been taken in the overall context of national sustainable development strategy, making positive contributions to the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change1. The Chinese Renewable Energy Law (2006), the Draft Law on Circular Economy 2007 and the national and provincial 11th 5-Year Plans make provision to encourage renewable energy production from municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill gas (LFG) and to develop landfill gas recovery and utilization projects. Producing LFG power is part of the China NDRC Renewable Energy Development Plan (2007) which intends by 2020 to produce 14 billion m3 biogas and provide a total installed capacity of 3 GW, within 15 % of the Energy deriving from renewable sources. Biogas including landfill gas enjoys preferential feed-in tariff and tax reduction within a certain period of time. Landfilling is with 82% by far the dominating type of waste treatment of the collected waste in China. At 324 engineered legal landfill sites nearby the main 661cities about 64 mn t MSW were disposed in 2006. At about 100 landfills gas collection is seen feasible. China plans to hold the highest number of Clean Development Mechanism projects worldwide, but in terms of implementation Chinas lacks behind. Waste Management and Landfill gas projects are playing a role in the mix of about 1337 approved CDM projects in 2007 and in the pool of potential Clean Development Mechanism and Greenhouse Gas abatement projects (UNFCCC, 2008). By following the foreign countries own experiences, LFG capturing, as an effective technique to reduce the environmental impact of land filling and to generate energy in China, was emphasized for the last decades by the international society. Landfill gas collection and utilisation is one type of anticipated CDM intervention. But because of the specific organic matter composition in Chinese MSW and due to the landfill operation practice the LFG generation characteristics and capture rates are far below the design estimates.

In the Biotechnology Laboratory of ICEEE of Hangkong University in Shenyang China landfill simulation tests were conducted to analyse and investigate the reasons for this abnormal behaviour of Chinese landfills. One aspect is the loss of considerable amounts of organic matter via leachate which reduces the biogas production and finally the yield of LFG. In order to quantify these losses the biogas building capacity of leachate from a 100 days landfill simulation experiment during the acidification phase was analysed. The accumulated BG generation of this leachate amounted to 34.6 ml/g with, in the average 65% CH4. The pH value increased to about pH 8.3 during the gas generation period. The COD reduction rate was 84%. The loss of biogas potential in a Chinese MSW landfill through leachate is after 100 days at least 12%. Based on the MSW-TOC the loss of biogas potential is estimated to be 32% after 330 days.

An improved landfill management practice and technology might slightly increase the LFG recovery rate. But even at high standard sanitary bio-reactor landfills developed countries only about half of the LFG can be collected for utilisation, which was driving the European policy of phasing out biomass landfill disposal. Land filling in China has to be seen only as a temporary and not as the future solution for MSW disposal and should be replaced by a state of the art anaerobic digestion technology of (if possible source separated) bioorganic matter (BMW). Using AD at least 5 times more biogas can be generated from MSW or BMW. To apply anaerobic digestion will lessen the contribution of landfills to Green House Gas emissions, will be supportive to the production of renewable energy from biomass and will be beneficial to close the loops through organic matter recycling in the sense of an integrated comprehensive recycling economy.

 

 

Wasserwiederverwendung für landwirtschaftliche und urbane Zwecke in Deutschland
© Springer Vieweg | Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH (11/2025)
Wasserwiederverwendung trägt zur Entlastung natürlicher Wasserressourcen bei. Die seit 2023 gültigen EU-Mindestanforderungen an Wasserwiederverwendung werden derzeit in deutsches Wasserrecht integriert. Das im Juli 2025 erschienene Merkblatt DWA-M 1200 erleichtert die praktische Umsetzung von Wasserwiederverwendung in Deutschland.

Wasserbau 2.0 - Biodiversität im Fokus
© Springer Vieweg | Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH (11/2025)
Innovative Betonsteine als Ersatz für natürliche Wasserbausteine können Vorteile beim ökologischen Fußabdruck, beim Bau, bei der Besiedlungsfähigkeit und sogar bei der Wiederverwendung bieten. Dargestellt werden die Entwicklung und mögliche Einsatzgebiete.

Talsperren - Essenziell fuer die Minderung der Klimawandelfolgen
© Springer Vieweg | Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH (10/2025)
Die Bedeutung von Talsperren und Wasserspeichern wird in diesem Beitrag im Kontext des Klimawandels und der steigenden globalen Wassernachfrage betrachtet. Die Diskrepanz zwischen Wassernachfrage und verfügbarer Speicherkapazität wächst aufgrund von Klimawandel, Bevölkerungswachstum und Rückgang der Süßwasservorräte. Viele große Talsperren weltweit sind über 50 Jahre alt, was zum Teil Bedenken hinsichtlich ihrer Standsicherheit und Verlandung des Stauseevolumens aufwirft. Die Verlandung ist ein weltweit zunehmendes Problem. Ohne nachhaltige Maßnahmen werden bis 2050 viele Stauseen im Mittel bis zu 50 % verlandet sein. Eine nachhaltige Wasserbewirtschaftung und Maßnahmen zur Minderung der Stauraumverlandung angesichts eines wachsenden globalen Wasserspeicherbedarfs sind unabdingbar.

 

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