Simulated study on methane oxidation in landfill cover soil

Methane is one of the most important greenhouse gases, and methane emission from landfill takes a great part of total amount of released methane on the earth. To control methane emission from landfill site, one efficient and economical method is to use and enhance the methane oxidation capacity of landfill cover soil. In this paper, the methane oxidation behavior of the landfill cover soil is studied in a simulating column using the cover soil from the Tianziling landfill site of Hangzhou. The results show that the methane oxidation capacity of the cover soil in the column increased from 3.33 mol·m -2·d -1 to 8.33 mol·m -2·d -1 during the experimental period, which indicates the multiplication of methanotrophic bacteria; the activity of methanotrophic community has a significant influence on O_ 2 profile,the most intensive methane oxidation occurs in the layer 10~20 cm; the transformation ratio from CH_ 4 to CO_ 2 is 51% during this experiment, and the left carbon source in CH_ 4 is probably assimilated by microorganisms.