Modelling the fate of organics in landfills

Organic chemicals are disposed of in landfills in terms of industrial waste, small quantities in municipal waste and traces in other waste products. These organic chemicals may sorb onto the solid waste, dissolve into the leachate, volatilize into the gas phase or degrade. Measurements at actual landfills of organic chemicals in leachate and gas are proving the presence of organic chemicals in landfills and suggest that emissions by leachate and gas are substantial fate routes, but in general very little seems to be known about the behaviour of organic chemicals in landfills.
Due to lack of actual data on the amount of organic chemicals entering a landfill and on the waste composition and state, a
simple model is constructed founded on basic physic-chemical principles, a first order degradation term and bookkeeping of the losses by leachate and gas, all based on average data.
The model suggests that especially the degradability of the organic chemicals is a very important factor controlling the fate and emissions of organic chemicals in the landfill environment, a factor which needs much more attention.
In 1999 the model was finally reported in a submitted paper. Further work was initiated with the scope of modelling the slow release of organic pollutants from specific waste types (CFCs from insulating foams). Collaboration with an British waste company was continued in order to start up a collaborative project, with one objective of validate the model.