Abstract
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) protocol for predicting national methane emission inventories from landfills was published 22 years ago in the 1996 Revised Guidelines. There currently exists a broad dataset to review landfill parameters and reported values and their appropriateness in use and application in a range of site-specific, regional, and national estimates. Degradable organic carbon (DOC) content was found to range from 0.0105 to 0.65 g C/g waste, with an average of 0.166 g C/g waste. The fraction of DOC that would anaerobically degrade (DOC f ) was reported to range from 50–83%, whereas higher and lower values have been experimentally determined for a variety of waste components, such as wood (0–50%) and food waste (50–75%). Where field validation occurred for the methane correction factor, values were substantially lower than defaults. The fraction of methane in anaerobic landfill gas (F) default of 50% is almost universally applied and is appropriate for cellulosic wastes. The methane generation rate constant (k) varied widely from 0.01 to 0.51 y−1, representing half-lives from 1 to 69 years. Methane oxidation (OX) default values of 0 and 10% may be valid, but values greater than 30% have been reported for porous covers at managed sites. The IPCC protocol is a practical tool with uncertainties and limitations that must be addressed when used for purposes other than developing inventories.
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