Multiphase Modeling of Flow, Transport, and Biodegradation in a Mesoscale Landfill Bioreactor

摘要

The need to control gas and leachate production and minimize refuse volume in municipal solid waste landfills has motivated the development of landfill simulation models to predict and design optimal treatment processes. We have developed a multiphase and multicomponent nonisothermal module called T2LBM for the three-dimensional TOUGH2 flow and transport simulator. T2LBM can be used to simulate aerobic or anaerobic biodegradation of municipal solid waste and the associated flow and transport of gas and liquid through the refuse mass. Acetic acid is used as a proxy for all biodegradable substrates in the refuse. T2LBM incorporates a Monod kinetic rate law for the biodegradation of acetic acid by either aerobic or anaerobic microbes as controlled by the local oxygen concentration. We have verified the model against published data, and applied it to our own mesoscale laboratory aerobic landfill bioreactor experiments. We observe spatial variability of flow and biodegradation consistent with permeability heterogeneity and the geometry of the radial grid. The model is capable of matching results of a shut-in test where the respiration of the system is measured over time.