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1608419 
Journal Article 
Estimation method for national methane emission from solid waste landfills 
Kumar, S; Gaikwad, SA; Shekdar, AV; Kshirsagar, PS; Singh, RN 
2004 
Atmospheric Environment
ISSN: 1352-2310
EISSN: 1873-2844 
Elsevier 
38 
21 
3481-3487 
In keeping with the global efforts on inventorisation of
methane emission, municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills are recognised as one of the major
sources of anthropogenic emissions generated from human activities. In India, most of the solid
wastes are disposed of by landfilling in low-lying areas located in and around the urban centres
resulting in generation of large quantities of biogas containing a sizeable proportion of
methane. After a critical review of literature on the methodology for estimation of methane
emissions, the default methodology has been used in estimation following the IPCC guidelines
1996. However, as the default methodology assumes that all potential methane is emitted in the
year of waste deposition, a triangular model for biogas from landfill has been proposed and the
results are compared. The methodology proposed for methane emissions from landfills based on a
triangular model is more realistic and can very well be used in estimation on global basis.
Methane emissions from MSW landfills for the year AD 1980-1999 have been estimated which could be
used in computing national inventories of methane emission. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights
reserved. 
global warming; greenhouse gas (GHG); municipal solid waste (MSW); biogas; climate change