Impact of meteorological parameters on extracted landfill gas composition and flow

The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of four pre-selected meteorological parameters (barometric pressure, wind speed, ambient temperature and solar radiation) on recovered landfill gas (LFG) flow, methane (CH4) content of the LFG and the recovered CH4 flow by performing statistical correlation tests and a visual check on correlations in scatterplots.

Meteorological parameters were recorded at an on-site weather station, while LFG data were recorded when entering the gas engine. LFG CH4 concentration, LFG flow and CH4 flow correlated highly with both barometric pressure and changes in barometric pressure, and the correlations were statistically significant.

A higher correlation was observed when studying changes in barometric pressure in comparison to the absolute value of barometric pressure. LFG recovery data correlated highly and significantly with wind speed during winter, but not during summer. Ambient temperature and solar radiation were not major meteorological parameters affecting LFG recovery, as low correlation coefficients were observed between these two parameters and the LFG recovery data.