SpringerLink
Log in

Methanethiol generation potential from anaerobic degradation of municipal solid waste in landfills

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Environmental Science and Pollution Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Volatile sulfur compounds are the main odorants at landfills. In this study, methanethiol (CH3SH) was chosen as a typical volatile organic sulfur compound, and its generation potential was investigated during the anaerobic degradation of the organic fractions of municipal solid waste (MSW) including rice, flour food, vegetable, fish and pork, paper, cellulose textile, and yard wastes. Among the experimental wastes, gas generation was the highest in the fish and pork waste with a high CH3SH concentration of up to 2.5% (v/v). Sulfur reduction in the solid phase was mostly converted into gaseous sulfur compounds. During the whole experiment, the cumulative CH3SH generation from the fish and pork waste was 0.139 L kgdw −1, which was about 2 and 6 orders of magnitude higher than that from the other experimental wastes. The ratio of CH3SH-S to TS reduction was 31.56% in the fish and pork waste. These results would be helpful to understand the generation of volatile sulfur compounds during the anaerobic degradation of MSW and develop techniques to control odor pollution at landfills.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price includes VAT (Germany)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abdul-Wahab SA, Al-Hajri A, Yetilmezsoy K (2016) Impact of the ambient air quality due to the dispersion of non-methane organic compounds from Barka Landfill. Int J Environ Sci Technol 13:1099–1108

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bao SD (2000) Soil agro-chemistry analysis. Chinese Agriculture Press, Bei**g (In Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Chasteen TG, Bentley R (2004) Volatile organic sulfur compounds of environmental interest: dimethyl sulfide and methanethiol. J Chem Educ 81:1524–1528

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cho JK, Park SC (1995) Biochemical methane potential and solid-state anaerobic-digestion of Korean food wastes. Bioresour Technol 52:245–253

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • De Bruyn WJ, Swartz E, Hu HJ, Shorter JA, Davidovits P, Worsnop DR, Zahniser MS, Kolb CE (1995) Henry’s law solubilities and Śetchenow coefficients for biogenic reduced sulfur species obtained from gas-liquid uptake measurements. J Geophys Res 100:7245–7251

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Derbali E, Makhlouf J, Vezina LP (1998) Biosynthesis of sulfur volatile compounds in broccoli seedlings stored under anaerobic conditions. Postharvest Biol Technol 13:191–204

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ding Y, Cai C, Hu B, Xu Y, Zheng X, Chen Y, Wu W (2012) Characterization and control of odorous gases at a landfill site: a case study in Hangzhou, China. Waste Manag 32:317–326

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fang JJ, Yang N, Cen DY, Shao LM, He PJ (2012) Odor compounds from different sources of landfill: characterization and source identification. Waste Manag 32:1401–1410

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Faour AA, Reinhart D, You H (2007) First-order kinetic gas generation model parameters for wet landfills. Waste Manag 27:946–953

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Finkelstein A, Benevenga AJ (1986) The effect of methanethiol and methionine toxicity on the activities of cytochrome c oxidase and enzymes involved in protection from peroxidative damage. J Nutr 116:204–215

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Glindemann D, Novak JT, Murthy SN, Gerwin S, Forbes R, Higgins M (2004) Standardized biosolids incubation, headspace odor measurement and odor production consumption cycles. In: Proceedings Water Environment Federation and AWWA Odors and Air Emissions Conference. Bellevue, Washington

  • He R, Wang J, **a FF, Mao LJ, Shen DS (2012a) Evaluation of methane oxidation activity in waste biocover soil during landfill stabilization. Chemosphere 89:672–679

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • He R, **a FF, Bai Y, Wang J, Shen DS (2012b) Mechanism of H2S removal during landfill stabilization in waste biocover soil, an alternative landfill cover. J Hazard Mater 217-218:67–75

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Herbert RA, Hendrie MS, Gibson DM, Shewan JM (1971) Bacteria active in the spoilage of certain sea foods. J Appl Microbiol 34:41–50

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kadota H, Ishida Y (1972) Production of volatile sulfur compounds by microorganisms. Annu Rev Microbiol 26:127–138

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kim KH (2006) Emissions of reduced sulfur compounds (RSC) as a landfill gas (LFG): a comparative study of young and old landfill facilities. Atmos Environ 40:6567–6578

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kim KH, Choi YJ, Jeon EC, Sunwoo Y (2005) Characterization of malodorous sulfur compounds in landfill gas. Atmos Environ 39:1103–1112

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lee CL, Brimblecombe P (2016) Anthropogenic contributions to global carbonyl sulfide, carbon disulfide and organosulfides fluxes. Earth Sci Rev 160:1–18

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lee DH, Behera SK, Kim J, Park HS (2009) Methane production potential of leachate generated from Korean food waste recycling facilities: a lab scale study. Waste Manag 29:876–882

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li XL, Rezaei RZ, Li P, Wu GY (2011) Composition of amino acids in feed ingredients for animal diets. Amino Acids 40:1159–1168

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liu XJ, Li H, Xue JH, Niu X, Wei P (2011) Study on biogas production using anaerobic fermentation of rice straw. Agric Sci Technol 12:1761–1764

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Muezzinoglu A (2003) A study of volatile organic sulfur emissions causing urban odors. Chemosphere 51:245–252

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • National Bureau of Statistics of the People’s Republic of China (NBS) (2016) China statistical yearbook 2015. China Statistics Press, Bei**g (In Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Nielfa A, Cano R, Vinot M, Fernández E, Fdz-Polanco M (2015) Anaerobic digestion modeling of the main components of organic fraction of municipal solid waste. Process Saf Environ Prot 94:180–187

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ogura T, Hoshino R, Date Y, Kikuchi J (2016) Visualization of microfloral metabolism for marine waste recycling. Meta 6:1–10

    Google Scholar 

  • Schäfer H, Myronova N, Boden R (2010) Microbial degradation of dimethylsulphide and related C1-sulphur compounds: organisms and pathways controlling fluxes of sulphur in the biosphere. J Exp Bot 61:315–334

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smet E, Lens P, Van Langenhove H (1998) Treatment of waste gases contaminated with odorous sulfur compounds. Crit Rev Environ Sci Technol 28:89–117

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Steinfeld G, Sanderson R (1998) Landfill gas cleanup for carbonate fuel cell power generation. CRADA final report, Office of Scientific Technical Information Technical Reports

  • Tangerman A (2009) Measurement and biological significance of the volatile sulfur compounds hydrogen sulfide, methanethiol and dimethyl sulfide in various biological matrices. J Chromatogr B 877:3366–3377

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tiquia SM, Wan JHC, Tam NF (2002) Dynamics of yard trimmings composting as determined by dehydrogenase activity, ATP content, arginine ammonification, and nitrification potential. Process Biochem 37:1057–1065

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • USDHHS (2007) Health Consultation—air quality hydrogen sulfide in ambient air near Saufley field construction and demolition debris landfill. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/pha/SaufleyFieldConstruction/SaufleyFieldHC080107.pdf

  • Visco G, Campanella L, Nobili V (2004) Organic carbons and TOC in waters: an overview of the international norm for its measurements. Microchem J 7:185–191

    Google Scholar 

  • Waller RL (1977) Methanethiol inhibition of mitochondrial respiration. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol 42:111–117

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • **a FF, Su Y, Wei XM, He YH, Wu ZC, Ghulam A, He R (2014) Diversity and activity of sulphur-oxidizing bacteria and sulphate-reducing bacteria in landfill cover soils. Lett Appl Microbiol 59:26–34

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yue D, Han B, Sun Y, Yang T (2014) Sulfide emissions from different areas of a municipal solid waste landfill in China. Waste Manag 34:1041–1044

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng LJ, Song JC, Li CY, Gao YG, Geng PL, Qu BN, Lin LY (2014) Preferential policies promote municipal solid waste (MSW) to energy in China: current status and prospects. Renew Sust Energ Rev 36:135–148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zou SC, Lee SC, Chan CY, Ho KF, Wang XM, Chan LY, Zhang ZX (2003) Characterization of ambient volatile organic compounds at a landfill site in Guangzhou, South China. Chemosphere 51:1015–1022

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China with Grants No. 41671245 and No.41371012, Zhejiang Province Key Research Project (2015C03021).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China

    Min Chen, **ng-Zhi Yao, Ruo-Chan Ma, Qing-Chuan Song & Ruo He

  2. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, 310012, China

    Yuyang Long

Authors
  1. Min Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. **ng-Zhi Yao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ruo-Chan Ma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Qing-Chuan Song
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Yuyang Long
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Ruo He
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ruo He.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Bingcai Pan

Electronic supplementary material

ESM 1

(DOCX 62 kb).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Chen, M., Yao, XZ., Ma, RC. et al. Methanethiol generation potential from anaerobic degradation of municipal solid waste in landfills. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 23992–24001 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-0035-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-0035-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation