Applicability of heat and gas trans-port models in biocover design based on a case study from Denmark

Biocovers — layers of mature compost — can oxidise a considerable amount of methane emitted from landfi Different factors can affect oxidation, particularly tempera- ture. For better understanding of the processes and for future biocover designs, two models (analytic and numerical) were developed. Both models used the heat equation for heat transfer, and the numerical model used advection-diffusion model with dual Monod kinetics for gas transport.

The results were validated with data from a Danish landfi The models correlated well with the observed data: the coefficient of determination (R2) was 0.95 for the analytic model and 0.91 for the numerical model. The models can be used for different design scenarios (e.g. varying methane infl thickness or start of operation), and can also help understand the processes that take place in the system, e.g. how oxygen penetration depends on ambient temperatures.