CO2 emissions from a municipal site for final disposal of solid waste in Gualeguaychu, Entre Rios Province, Argentina

Abstract

This paper estimates CO2 fluxes in a municipal site for final disposal of solid waste, located in Gualeguaychu, Argentina. Estimations were made using the accumulation chamber methods, which had been calibrated previously in laboratory. CO2 fluxes ranged from 31 to 331 g m−2 day−1. Three different populations were identified: background soil gases averaging 46 g m−2 day−1, intermediate anomalous values averaging 110 g m−2 day−1 and high anomalous values averaging 270 g m−2 day−1. Gas samples to a depth of 20 cm were also taken. Gas fractions, XCO2 < 0.1, XCH4 < 0.01, XN2 ~0.71 and XO2 ~0.21, δ13C of CO2 (−34 to −18‰), as well as age of waste emplacement, suggest that the study site may be at the final stage of aerobic biodegradation. In a first approach, and following the downstream direction of groundwater flow, alkalinity and δ13C of dissolved inorganic carbon (−15 to 4‰) were observed to increase when groundwater passed through the disposal site. This suggests that the CO2 generated by waste biodegradation dissolves or that dissolved organic matter appears as a result of leachate degradation.