Landfill Methane Emissions
Hamidi Abdul Aziz, Nor Azalina Rosli, Yung‐Tse Hung
Abstract
Methane is a shorter lifetime potent gas (9–15 years) with a high global warming potential due to a strong molar absorption coefficient. As the concentrations in the atmosphere increased due to uncontrolled anthropogenic methane production, it has become more long-lived and causes damages by creating an imbalance between methane emissions and removals. This chapter discusses about methane gas (characteristics and sources), methane generation in landfills (anaerobic decomposition process, source of methane in landfills, and methane reduction),methane emissions (mechanisms and factors influencing the mechanisms), methane in the atmosphere (methane sink and removal), and the impact of methane emissions.