Abstract
This work focuses on the development of a portable toolbox for the quantification of methane emissions in landfills, with the aim of making environmental monitoring more widespread and accessible. Methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is a significant contributor to climate change, and landfills are one of the main sources of methane emissions. Conventional monitoring techniques, such as flow chambers and FID detectors, are reliable but have limitations in terms of cost, representativeness, and operational flexibility. Alternatively, the use of low-cost sensors based on MOX and NDIR technologies represents a promising solution. The European ESCAPE (Environmental Sites CH4 Assessment Platform Europe) project addresses this issue by developing portable tools equipped with low-cost sensors for detecting and quantifying methane emissions in landfills. The work focused on the realization of a toolbox integrating low-cost sensors for methane emission monitoring. The toolbox was calibrated through an experimental phase that included laboratory tests and field survey. The selected sensors were analyzed to assess their sensitivity to different methane concentrations, the effect of humidity, interference with other gases, and signal repeatability.
Laboratory tests were conducted using a gas mixing bench capable of generating calibrated mixtures of methane, air, and other gases under controlled humidity conditions. Subsequently, the sensors were used in the field at a MSW landfill to test their performance in real environmental conditions. A machine learning model was also developed for the quantification of methane emissions, used to improve real time monitoring accuracy and optimize the identification of emission sources.
This approach provides an economical solution for landfill monitoring, offering a faster and easier technical alternative that can be used alongside existing methods. The developed toolbox supports emission management and control activities, effectively contributing to emission reduction strategies and environmental sustainability.
