Abstract
In loess regions, landfilling is the predominant solid waste disposal and loess is usually used as landfill cover soil. However, the methane (CH4) bio-oxidation activity of virgin loess is usually below 0.01 µmol/(h g-soil). In this study, we proposed a method to improve CH4 removal capacity of loess by amelioration with mature landfill leachate, which is in-situ, easily available, and appropriate. The organic matter content of the ameliorated loess increased by 180%, reaching 19.69–24.88 g/kg-soil, with more than 90% being non-leachable. The abundance of type I methane-oxidizing bacteria and methane monooxygenase gene pmoA increased by 5.0 and 79 times, respectively. Consequently, the maximum CH4 removal rate of ameliorated loess reached 0.74–1.41 µmol/(h g-soil) at 25°C, which was 4-fold higher than that of water-irrigated loess. Besides, the CH4 removal rate peaked at 10 vt% CH4 concentration and remained at around 1.4 µmol/(h g-soil) at 15°C–35°C. The column test confirmed that the highest CH4 removal efficiency was at 30–10 cm below the surface, reaching 26.1%±0.4%, and the 50-cm-thick loess layer irrigated with leachate achieved more than 85% CH4 removal efficiency. These results could help to realize carbon neutrality in landfill sites of global loess regions.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Pécsi M. Loess is not just the accumulation of dust. Quaternary Int, 1990, 7–8: 1–21
Peng J, Wang S, Wang Q, et al. Distribution and genetic types of loess landslides in China. J Asian Earth Sci, 2019, 170: 329–350
Pan J, Feng Y. Estimating potential ecological carrying capacity in Gansu province. Chinese J Ecol, 2017, 36: 800–808
National Bureau of Statistics of China. China Statistical Yearbook (in Chinese). Beijing: China Statistical Press, 2019
Ragnauth S A, Creason J, Alsalam J, et al. Global mitigation of non-CO2 greenhouse gases: Marginal abatement costs curves and abatement potential through 2030. J Integrative Environ Sci, 2015, 12: 155–168
Oertel C, Matschullat J, Zurba K, et al. Greenhouse gas emissions from soils—A review. Geochemistry, 2016, 76: 327–352
Wang Y, Shao M, Zhu Y, et al. Impacts of land use and plant characteristics on dried soil layers in different climatic regions on the loess plateau of China. Agric For Meteor, 2011, 151: 437–448
Whalen S C, Reeburgh W S, Sandbeck K A. Rapid methane oxidation in a landfill cover soil. Appl Environ MicroBiol, 1990, 56: 3405–3411
Zhang H, He P, Shao L. Methane emissions from msw landfill with sandy soil covers under leachate recirculation and subsurface irrigation. Atmos Environ, 2008, 42: 5579–5588
Sadasivam B Y, Reddy K R. Landfill methane oxidation in soil and bio-based cover systems: A review. Rev Environ Sci Biotechnol, 2014, 13: 79–107
De Visscher A, Thomas D, Boeckx P, et al. Methane oxidation in simulated landfill cover soil environments. Environ Sci Technol, 1999, 33: 1854–1859
Bender M, Conrad R. Effect of CH4 concentrations and soil conditions on the induction of CH4 oxidation activity. Soil Biol Biochem, 1995, 27: 1517–1527
Yang Y, Tong T, Chen J, et al. Ammonium impacts methane oxidation and methanotrophic community in freshwater sediment. Front Bioeng Biotechnol, 2020, 8: 250
Yang N, Lü F, He P, et al. Response of methanotrophs and methane oxidation on ammonium application in landfill soils. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol, 2011, 92: 1073–1082
Chiu C F, Huang Z D. Microbial methane oxidation and gas adsorption capacities of biochar-modified soils. Int J Geosynth Ground Eng, 2020, 6: 24
Yan X Y, Cai Z C. Advances in the study of roles of soil in methane oxidation (in Chinese). Rural Eco-Environ, 1996, 2: 33–38
Zhang H, Yan X, Cai B, et al. The effects of aged refuse and sewage sludge on landfill CH4 oxidation and N2O emissions: Roles of moisture content and temperature. Ecol Eng, 2015, 74: 345–350
Huang D, Yang L, Xu W, et al. Enhancement of the methane removal efficiency via aeration for biochar-amended landfill soil cover. Environ Pollution, 2020, 263: 114413
Shao L M, He P J, Li G J. In situ nitrogen removal from leachate by bioreactor landfill with limited aeration. Waste Manage, 2008, 28: 1000–1007
He P J, Xue J F, Shao L M, et al. Dissolved organic matter (DOM) in recycled leachate of bioreactor landfill. Water Res, 2006, 40: 1465–1473
Zhou H, Chen C, Wang D, et al. Effect of long-term organic amendments on the full-range soil water retention characteristics of a vertisol. Soil Tillage Res, 2020, 202: 104663
Lü F, He P, Guo M, et al. Ammonium-dependent regulation of aerobic methane-consuming bacteria in landfill cover soil by leachate irrigation. J Environ Sci, 2012, 24: 711–719
Chiemchaisri C, Chiemchaisri W, Chittanukul K, et al. Effect of leachate irrigation on methane oxidation in tropical landfill cover soil. J Mater Cycle Waste Manag, 2010, 12: 161–168
Watzinger A, Stemmer M, Pfeffer M, et al. Methanotrophic communities in a landfill cover soil as revealed by [13C] PLFAs and respiratory quinones: Impact of high methane addition and landfill leachate irrigation. Soil Biol Biochem, 2008, 40: 751–762
Zhang C, Liu G, Xue S, et al. Soil bacterial community dynamics reflect changes in plant community and soil properties during the secondary succession of abandoned farmland in the loess plateau. Soil Biol Biochem, 2016, 97: 40–49
Jin Z, Guo L, Wang Y, et al. Valley reshaping and damming induce water table rise and soil salinization on the chinese loess plateau. Geoderma, 2019, 339: 115–125
Fan C H, Zhang Y C, He L, et al. Effect of straw incorporation on three-dimensional fluorescence spectrum of dissolved organic matter in arid loess (in Chinese). Spectrosc Spect Anal, 2013, 33: 1820–1823
Xie J Y, Wang Z H, Li S X. Effects of straw and plastic-film mulching on soil micro-bioactivity and organic carbon and nitrogen in northwest dryland areas of China (in Chinese). Acta Ecologica Sinica, 2010, 30: 6781–6786
Amor C, De Torres-Socías E, Peres J A, et al. Mature landfill leachate treatment by coagulation/flocculation combined with fenton and solar photo-fenton processes. J Hazard Mater, 2015, 286: 261–268
Hao Y, Wang T, Wang J. Structural properties of unsaturated compacted loess for various sample moisture contents. Arab J Geosci, 2019, 12: 258
Chen C, Zhang D, Zhang J. Influence of stress and water content on air permeability of intact loess. Can Geotech J, 2017, 54: 1221–1230
Lü F, Liu Y, Shao L, et al. Powdered biochar doubled microbial growth in anaerobic digestion of oil. Appl Energy, 2019, 247: 605–614
Griffiths R I, Whiteley A S, O’Donnell A G, et al. Rapid method for coextraction of DNA and RNA from natural environments for analysis of ribosomal DNA- and rRNA-based microbial community composition. Appl Environ Microbiol, 2000, 66: 5488–5491
Bolyen E, Rideout J R, Dillon M R, et al. Reproducible, interactive, scalable and extensible microbiome data science using qiime 2. Nat Biotechnol, 2019, 37: 852–857
Pruesse E, Quast C, Knittel K, et al. Silva: A comprehensive online resource for quality checked and aligned ribosomal RNA sequence data compatible with arb. Nucleic Acids Res, 2007, 35: 7188–7196
López-Gutiérrez J C, Henry S, Hallet S, et al. Quantification of a novel group of nitrate-reducing bacteria in the environment by real-time PCR. J MicroBiol Methods, 2004, 57: 399–407
Kemnitz D, Kolb S, Conrad R. High abundance of crenarchaeota in a temperate acidic forest soil. FEMS Microbiol Ecol, 2007, 60: 442–448
Kolb S, Knief C, Stubner S, et al. Quantitative detection of methanotrophs in soil by novel pmoA-targeted real-time PCR assays. Appl Environ Microbiol, 2003, 69: 2423–2429
De Corte D, Yokokawa T, Varela M M, et al. Spatial distribution of bacteria and archaea and amoA gene copy numbers throughout the water column of the eastern mediterranean sea. ISME J, 2009, 3: 147–158
Reddy K R, Rai R K, Green S J, et al. Effect of temperature on methane oxidation and community composition in landfill cover soil. J Industrial Microbiol Biotech, 2019, 46: 1283–1295
Sadasivam B Y, Reddy K R. Adsorption and transport of methane in landfill cover soil amended with waste-wood biochars. J Environ Manage, 2015, 158: 11–23
Abujabhah I S, Bound S A, Doyle R, et al. Effects of biochar and compost amendments on soil physico-chemical properties and the total community within a temperate agricultural soil. Appl Soil Ecol, 2016, 98: 243–253
Lehmann J, Kleber M. The contentious nature of soil organic matter. Nature, 2015, 528: 60–68
Cheng H, Zhang D, Huang B, et al. Organic fertilizer improves soil fertility and restores the bacterial community after 1,3-dichloropropene fumigation. Sci Total Environ, 2020, 738: 140345
Bian R, Shi W, Duan Y, et al. Effect of soil types and ammonia concentrations on the contribution of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria to CH4 oxidation. Waste Manag Res, 2019, 37: 698–705
Long Y Y, Liao Y, Miao J Y, et al. Effects of ammonia on methane oxidation in landfill cover materials. Environ Sci Pollut Res, 2014, 21: 911–920
Taylor A E, Zeglin L H, Wanzek T A, et al. Dynamics of ammonia-oxidizing archaea and bacteria populations and contributions to soil nitrification potentials. ISME J, 2012, 6: 2024–2032
Verhamme D T, Prosser J I, Nicol G W. Ammonia concentration determines differential growth of ammonia-oxidising archaea and bacteria in soil microcosms. ISME J, 2011, 5: 1067–1071
Ouyang Y, Norton J M, Stark J M, et al. Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria are more responsive than archaea to nitrogen source in an agricultural soil. Soil Biol Biochem, 2016, 96: 4–15
Anthony K M W, Anthony P, Grosse G, et al. Geologic methane seeps along boundaries of arctic permafrost thaw and melting glaciers. Nat Geosci, 2012, 5: 419–426
Tate K R. Soil methane oxidation and land-use change — from process to mitigation. Soil Biol Biochem, 2015, 80: 260–272
Hernandez M E, Beck D A C, Lidstrom M E, et al. Oxygen availability is a major factor in determining the composition of microbial communities involved in methane oxidation. PeerJ, 2015, 3: e801
He R, Wang J, Xia F F, et al. Evaluation of methane oxidation activity in waste biocover soil during landfill stabilization. Chemosphere, 2012, 89: 672–679
Barlaz M A, Green R B, Chanton J P, et al. Evaluation of a biologically active cover for mitigation of landfill gas emissions. Environ Sci Technol, 2004, 38: 4891–4899
Lee E H, Moon K E, Cho K S. Long-term performance and bacterial community dynamics in biocovers for mitigating methane and malodorous gases. J Biotech, 2017, 242: 1–10
Reddy K R, Rai R K, Green S J, et al. Effect of pH on methane oxidation and community composition in landfill cover soil. J Environ Eng, 2020, 146: 04020037
Zhan L T, Wu T, Feng S, et al. Full-scale experimental study of methane emission in a loess-gravel capillary barrier cover under different seasons. Waste Manage, 2020, 107: 54–65
WMO. WMO greenhouse gas bulletin No.12. World Meteorological Organization, 2016. https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.php7explnum_id=3084
Goldsmith Jr. C D, Chanton J, Abichou T, et al. Methane emissions from 20 landfills across the united states using vertical radial plume mapping. J Air Waste Manage Association, 2012, 62: 183–197
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2018YFC1903700), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41877537).
Electronic supplementary material
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
He, P., Chen, J., Shao, L. et al. In-situ neutralize methane emission from landfills in loess regions using leachate. Sci. China Technol. Sci. 64, 1500–1512 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-021-1819-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-021-1819-2