DETERMINATION OF METHANE EMISSION FROM MUNICIPAL SOLID-WASTE BY GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY

An analysis by GC is presented of possible Indian production of methan e from anaerobic decay of organic municipal solid wastes (MSW) in land fills. The maximum extent of anaerobic biodegradation of soil from MSW has been determined in this investigation. IPCC estimated global anth ropogenic sources which landfills are expected to contribute 30-40 Tg/ Year of methane and calculations that methane production from the worl d wide indicated by IPCC to be about 68Tg/Year which agrees with upper limit of 70 Tg/Year. Our incubation study reveals that the maximum bi o-degradability of Indian MSW is about 45% at 35 degrees C, The methan e efflux obtained ranges from 0.3 to 0.7 mg/m(2)/hr which shows that b y this study this is only about 3% of the total methane budget from gl obal MSW indicating that methane release from MSW is one of the major sources contributing to global methane budget.