A new biochemical methane potential assay for landfilled waste using the organic fraction of municipal solid waste

This study was undertaken as a first step towards developing a new solid-phase biochemical methane potential (BMP) assay, termed Landfill BMP, to be representative of the methane generation potential of landfilled waste. Statistically designed laboratory batch experiments were conducted using organic fraction of municipal solid waste to compare the methane generation potential (Lo) and the first-order rate coefficient (k) values from conventional slurry-phase BMP and new LBMP assays. Results showed statistically significant differences between Lo values, with the slurry-phase assay overestimating Lo by as much as 47 ± 12%. CH4 yields of the slurry and the solid-phase assays were as high as 183.6 mlCH4/gVSwaste and 118.1 mlCH4/gVSwaste, respectively. k values were overestimated by both slurry and solid-phase approaches, suggesting that laboratory experiments may not be the best approach to obtain k values. The highest coefficient of variation between duplicates in this study was 26%, indicating acceptable repeatability of results. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd