With the acceleration of urbanization, many landfills built in the early days have failed to take effective pollution control measures due to poor management or technical limitations. Today, these old landfills have become key areas for environmental governance, especially their long-term accumulated methane pollution, which not only poses a threat to the ecosystem, but also may affect the safety of surrounding residents. Therefore, the use of advanced methane detection technology for historical pollution monitoring is of great significance for the governance of landfill legacy issues.
Hidden Dangers Of Methane Pollution In Old Landfills
During the landfill process, garbage will undergo slow anaerobic degradation to produce landfill gases such as methane and carbon dioxide. Among them, the greenhouse effect of methane is more than 25 times that of carbon dioxide, and it is also flammable at high concentrations, which may cause explosion risks in extreme cases. However, during the construction of many landfills in the 20th century, landfill gas collection and treatment systems were not yet popular, and a large amount of methane was diffused into the ground or atmosphere without treatment.
In the United States, there was an abandoned landfill in New Jersey. Due to the lack of a gas collection system, methane accumulated underground for a long time and eventually penetrated into the surrounding residential areas, causing residents to worry about health and safety. The investigation found that the methane concentration in the landfill was higher than the safety standard in both groundwater and soil, indicating that methane pollution has a long-term cumulative effect and must be monitored and controlled through professional detection methods.
The Role Of Methane Detector In Historical Pollution Monitoring
For the pollution assessment of old landfills, accurate methane detection is the first step. Modern high-precision methane detectors can monitor the methane concentration distribution of landfills in real time, help environmental protection departments and enterprises assess the degree of pollution, and formulate corresponding treatment plans.
Comprehensively scan historical pollution
The methane detector can be carried on drones or ground monitoring equipment to conduct a full-scale scan of the remaining pollution in the landfill. It can detect underground methane escape points, determine the scope and severity of pollution diffusion, and provide a scientific basis for subsequent remediation.
Monitoring the surrounding environment of the landfill
Methane will not only remain inside the landfill, but may also diffuse to the surrounding area through groundwater or soil. Therefore, the use of methane detectors to monitor the air, soil and water sources around the landfill can detect potential pollution early and avoid long-term impacts on surrounding residents and ecosystems.
Assisting Methane Collection And Governance
During the landfill remediation process, the governance team usually installs a methane collection system to reduce gas leakage. However, the effectiveness of the system requires accurate data support. Methane detectors can help operators optimize collection strategies, improve resource recovery rates, and reduce governance costs.
European Landfill Remediation Case: Application Of Methane Detection Technology
In Europe, an old landfill in Germany has become a serious source of methane pollution due to long-term lack of management. With the upgrading of environmental protection regulations, the government decided to remediate the landfill and introduce advanced methane detectors for pollution tracking and governance assessment.
First, the methane detector carried by the drone is used to conduct a large-scale scan to draw a methane emission map of the landfill and mark the areas with higher concentrations. Then, the on-site technicians use ground detection equipment to conduct in-depth analysis of key points to determine the depth and diffusion trend of underground methane accumulation.
On this basis, the landfill operator optimized the methane collection system, added gas extraction wells for high-concentration areas, and installed combustion devices to use the recovered methane for energy generation. In the end, the landfill’s methane emissions were reduced by more than 80%, which not only reduced environmental risks but also gained economic returns through methane recovery.
Future Development Of Landfill Historical Pollution Monitoring
With the improvement of environmental protection standards, the historical pollution problem of landfills is gradually becoming a focus of attention in various countries. In the future, the development of methane detection technology will be more intelligent, combining the Internet of Things, big data analysis and artificial intelligence algorithms to improve monitoring accuracy and response efficiency.
For example, the automated monitoring system can collect methane data from landfills in real time and process it through the cloud to help governments and companies identify potential pollution points faster. In addition, cross-regional data sharing will promote the exchange of landfill governance experience, enabling countries to more effectively deal with landfill legacy pollution problems.
In general, landfill historical pollution monitoring is not only an important part of environmental governance, but also a key step in landfill remediation and reuse. Through accurate methane detection, governments and businesses can formulate pollution control plans more scientifically to ensure that landfills do not have long-term impacts on future urban development, while exploring the possibility of resource utilization and contributing to sustainable development.
