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Topic: Satellite data finds landfills are methane 'super emitters' - page 2. (Read 236 times)

legendary
Activity: 3668
Merit: 6382
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Lately there's some attention towards biodiesel, which is, from my understanding, exactly this. Just, of course, they focus on making biodiesel from new waste, ignoring the old, for some reason (insufficient knowledge?, landfills may stop emitting gas after a short while? I don't know).

Biodiesel is made from vegetable oil and used cooking oil, and in some cases animal fat but I've not seen once an example of this being even close to remotely profitable as fat can be directly used for a ton of other things, it's cheaper and indirectly more profitable to turn it into low-quality dog food than making biofuel out of it.

What you get from a landfill is gas, it makes little sense to try to turn it into a traditional fuel so instead, you either use a generator on-site to produce energy or you can process it into LNG but again with every major transformation it begins to be more expensive.

OK, then I guess that I've made a confusion in terms; however, I've read somewhere that recovering methane from the new waste is being pushed (more or less), while I heard nothing about also considering the old waste.
Of course, I have no idea what are all the possible methods for how that "recovering" would work; indeed, burning on-site makes sense - I think that's already being done for municipal centralized heating.

There is no way to stop a landfill from producing gas, as long as it contains matter that is decomposing it will produce gas

Do you know by chance for how long would a landfill produce this gas, as an approximated estimation? Maybe what I'm asking is stupid though, since one cannot compare the waste of let's say Tampa FL, with the waste of Rio de Janeiro.
legendary
Activity: 1568
Merit: 6660
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Space X has devised one method of reducing damage to the environment: burning methane as a rocket fuel. Emissions produced by burning methane are less damaging to the planet than methane itself.

This solution will only be kicked into effect provided that the commercial rocket industry booms. That doesn't look like it's going to happen any time soon
legendary
Activity: 3472
Merit: 1963
Leading Crypto Sports Betting & Casino Platform
"Cattle are the No. 1 agricultural source of greenhouse gases worldwide. Each year, a single cow will belch about 220 pounds of methane." Source : https://www.ucdavis.edu/food/news/making-cattle-more-sustainable

Livestock are responsible for 14.5 percent of global greenhouse gases. Source : https://clear.ucdavis.edu/explainers/using-global-emission-statistics-distracting-us-climate-change-solutions

So I think the over emphasis on Bitcoin's impact on climate chance, should be compared with other major polluters of this world, to get a more fair picture of this issue.  Roll Eyes
copper member
Activity: 2800
Merit: 1268
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Upon checking scientific research, some papers focus on capturing and recovering CH4 or Methane and then have it stored in some storage. According to this Peter Englezos, the author of this paper,[1]. He said that it is feasible to recover CH4 from CH4/CO2 and then when it is separated, collect CO2 as well.

Landfills probably contain both compounds and a mixture of them. It's important to have it collected and processed with low energy requirements as possible to provide the most efficient way with less harm to the environment.

There are very few applications of low-carbon methane fuel for hypersonic propulsion[2]. So if ever there would be a focus on SpaceX research, maybe this could be the improvement and upgrade of the current



References:

[1] - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1004954118309479
[2] - https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/hypersonic-propulsion
legendary
Activity: 2912
Merit: 6403
Blackjack.fun
I am pretty sure the reason why they apply a certain membrane between the layers of land fill waste is to contain that methane release.
They dump the garbage and after a few weeks they cover it up so it doesn’t produce methane. They add a thick layer and they pile more garbage on top of that and eventually also cover it up. The bigger issue with landfill is the toxic liquids that are released and harder to control.

There is no way to stop a landfill from producing gas, as long as it contains matter that is decomposing it will produce gas, the membranes are not for stopping gas, they are designed mainly to stop the flowing of the liquids that are generated through the process, the leachate to reach the groundwater, we use this even in farming for open-air manure pit, although..well...I can tell you a lot are done as they should just on paper, and this is even in Europe where we have tight regulations, god help us what happens elsewhere. The dome on top of the pile is not for restricting the gas, is for redirecting all gas through an already made opening from which it can either be collected and used or simply burned in some cases just like flaring.

Lately there's some attention towards biodiesel, which is, from my understanding, exactly this. Just, of course, they focus on making biodiesel from new waste, ignoring the old, for some reason (insufficient knowledge?, landfills may stop emitting gas after a short while? I don't know).

Biodiesel is made from vegetable oil and used cooking oil, and in some cases animal fat but I've not seen once an example of this being even close to remotely profitable as fat can be directly used for a ton of other things, it's cheaper and indirectly more profitable to turn it into low-quality dog food than making biofuel out of it.

What you get from a landfill is gas, it makes little sense to try to turn it into a traditional fuel so instead, you either use a generator on-site to produce energy or you can process it into LNG but again with every major transformation it begins to be more expensive.
sr. member
Activity: 1274
Merit: 293
Just so people know, this waste wouldn't be wastes if the government supported the upcycling and recycling efforts of non-government and non-profit organizations, food waste is particularly dumb, it has a real simple solution which is giving it away to those who can't afford to eat, restaurants and other food establishments don't do this kind of thing, they opt out to put it in trash instead of giving it to soup kitchens or giving it to homeless in the area.
legendary
Activity: 2282
Merit: 3014
This is the exact kind of data that makes me wonder why there are so many climate change deniers out there. There are so many things that we are doing to this planet that we don’t even realize. Trying to claim that it’s natural for the earth to go through periods of high temperatures, which it is, but to ignore all of the extra stuff going on that didn’t exist back in the past seems crazy to me. Interesting approach SpaceX is looking to potentially take here.
legendary
Activity: 3668
Merit: 6382
Looking for campaign manager? Contact icopress!
Lately there's some attention towards biodiesel, which is, from my understanding, exactly this. Just, of course, they focus on making biodiesel from new waste, ignoring the old, for some reason (insufficient knowledge?, landfills may stop emitting gas after a short while? I don't know).
legendary
Activity: 2562
Merit: 1441
I am pretty sure the reason why they apply a certain membrane between the layers of land fill waste is to contain that methane release.

They dump the garbage and after a few weeks they cover it up so it doesn’t produce methane. They add a thick layer and they pile more garbage on top of that and eventually also cover it up. The bigger issue with landfill is the toxic liquids that are released and harder to control.


Methane build up in landfills would be a fire hazard. I doubt they would want to contain or build up mass quantities of it, which could fuel a fire or explosion.

Its been said that permafrost in the arctic and antarctic contain large amounts of methane which are released as temperatures rise, and ice at the poles, melt.

The phenomenon is known as a methane burp:

https://www.resilience.org/stories/2004-12-15/methane-burps-ticking-time-bomb/

Unfortunately, we don't have satellites over the poles equipped with mass spectrometers to make rough estimates of how much methane is being released from melting permafrost. But it is possible that it is comparable or even larger than the amounts at landfills. As ice at the poles covers a significantly larger area, in terms of square miles.

There's a long list of climate change topics which aren't receiving serious attention for whatever reason. And it is strange.
legendary
Activity: 3808
Merit: 1723
I am pretty sure the reason why they apply a certain membrane between the layers of land fill waste is to contain that methane release.

They dump the garbage and after a few weeks they cover it up so it doesn’t produce methane. They add a thick layer and they pile more garbage on top of that and eventually also cover it up. The bigger issue with landfill is the toxic liquids that are released and harder to control.
jr. member
Activity: 70
Merit: 6
Landfills are releasing large amounts of planet-warming methane gas into the atmosphere from the decomposition of waste and are a significant contributor to such emissions in urban areas, a study suggests.

Scientists used satellite data from Delhi and Mumbai in India, Lahore in Pakistan and Buenos Aires in Argentina and identified specific locations in each city that persistently emit high methane levels, all of which were landfills. The cities' overall methane emissions from all sources were 1.4 to 2.6 times higher than previous estimates.


Seeing as how many are overzealous in their climate change crusade. Enough so to negatively stigmatize PoW and the crypto mining industry. Perhaps they can be appeased by a stronger effort towards a carbon neutral society.
...



Dude the world is starving, cut the crap with CO2 , Green stuff ,globalism cra..p ...in Europe we will beat ecologists,globalists to dea..th if they continue on this path with net zero emissions.
legendary
Activity: 2562
Merit: 1441
Quote
Landfills are releasing large amounts of planet-warming methane gas into the atmosphere from the decomposition of waste and are a significant contributor to such emissions in urban areas, a study suggests.

Scientists used satellite data from Delhi and Mumbai in India, Lahore in Pakistan and Buenos Aires in Argentina and identified specific locations in each city that persistently emit high methane levels, all of which were landfills. The cities' overall methane emissions from all sources were 1.4 to 2.6 times higher than previous estimates.

The study, published in Science Advances on Wednesday, is aimed at helping local governments carry out targeted efforts to limit global warming by pinpointing specific sites of major concern.

When organic waste like food, wood or paper decomposes, it emits methane into the air. Landfills are the third-largest source of methane emissions globally, after oil and gas systems and agriculture.

Although methane only accounts for about 11% of greenhouse gas emissions and lasts about a dozen years in the air, it traps 80 times more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide does. Scientists estimate that at least 25% of today's warming is driven by methane from human actions
.

"This is the first time that high-resolution satellite images have been used to observe landfills and calculate their methane emissions," said Joannes Maasakkers, lead author of the study and atmospheric scientist at the Netherlands Institute for Space Research.

"We found that these landfills, which are relatively small compared to city sizes, are responsible for a large fraction of total emissions from a given area," he said.

Satellite data to detect emissions is still a relatively new field, but it's being used more and more to observe gases across the world. It means more independent organizations are tracking greenhouse gases and identifying big emitters, whereas previously local government figures were the only source available.

"This new work shows just how important it is to manage landfills better, especially in countries like India where landfills are often on fire, emitting a wide range of damaging pollutants," said Euan Nisbet, an Earth scientist at Royal Holloway, University of London, who wasn't part of the study.

Earlier this year, smoke hung over New Delhi for days after a massive landfill caught fire as the country was sweltering in an extreme heat wave with temperatures surpassing 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit). At least two other landfill fires have been reported in India this year.

Nisbet added that the newer satellite technology, combined with on-the-ground measurements, makes it easier for researchers to identify "who is polluting the world."

China and India are the world's biggest methane polluters, a recent analysis by the International Energy Agency found.

At last year's United Nations climate conference, 104 countries signed a pledge to reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030 compared with 2020 levels. Both India and China are not signatories.

The authors plan to carry out more research into landfill sites across the world in future studies.

"It is a quickly developing field and we expect more interesting data to come out soon," said Maasakkers.



https://phys.org/news/2022-08-satellite-landfills-methane-super-emitters.html


....


Here we have an interesting and seldom acknowledged facet of climate change: landfills generating significant quantities of methane. Which could be a more dangerous greenhouse gas in contrast to carbon emissions.

Space X has devised one method of reducing damage to the environment: burning methane as a rocket fuel. Emissions produced by burning methane are less damaging to the planet than methane itself. Perhaps it could be feasible to hoist networks of air balloons over landfills to capture methane emissions. Which would then be burned as fuel. I think there are definitely crazier waste recycling ideas out there.

Seeing as how many are overzealous in their climate change crusade. Enough so to negatively stigmatize PoW and the crypto mining industry. Perhaps they can be appeased by a stronger effort towards a carbon neutral society.

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