International Journal of Research in Environmental Studies
ISSN: 2059-1977
Vol. 6(3), pp. 39-46, September 2019
doi.org/10.33500/ijres.2019.06.004

Greenhouse gas estimation from municipal solid waste dump site in Roorkee (Uttrakhand), India

Yeshi Choden¹^,²* and M. P. Sharma³

¹Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee (247667), Uttrakhand, India.
²Faculty of College of Science and Technology, Royal University of Bhutan, Phuentsholing, 21101, Bhutan.
³Biofuel Research Laboratory, Department of Hydro and Renewable Energy, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee (247667), Uttrakhand, India.

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: yeshichoden65@gmail.com.

Received 25 May, 2019; Received in revised form 10 August, 2019; Accepted 14 August, 2019.

Abstract

Keywords:
Greenhouse gas, Air pollution, Dumpsites, Municipal solid waste, Climate change.

In recent times, India is facing problem of poor disposal of municipal solid waste (MSW) at dumpsites and landfills. Inappropriate disposal and unmanaged landfills or open dumping of waste leads to the release of toxic gases like methane (CH₄) in atmosphere which causes air pollution and also pollutes ground water through leachate. In view of the poor management of MSW in open dump coupled with associated climate change issues, it has become inevitably important to measure the potential of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission from dump sites. The paper reports the results of GHG emission potential of Saliyar open dump site in Roorkee (Uttrakhand) using four methods, viz: IPCC default method (DM), first order decay method (FOD), EPER Germany model and modified triangular method (MTM). The average GHG emissions from these four methods for 29 years in Roorkee were estimated as 2.0, 0.69, 1.9 and 0.19 Gg/yr, respectively. Summarized literature on GHG estimation methods is also provided with their results and significance. Details of physical analysis of MSW are provided where the analysis results are used as parameters for estimation of GHG. The results of the study suggests that out of four methods, FOD is more site specific and was found to give the most reliable emission results from MSW open dumpsite provided basic parameters of the model are determined precisely.