Identification of fire hazards due to landfill gas generation and emission

Abstract

Since the identification of fire hazards in landfills has not been sufficiently investigated and studied, the goal of this research is to present a methodological approach to the issue. This paper defines fire occurrence indicators, which are considered as one of the risk factors of underground and/or surface fires in non-sanitary landfills. In this study, fire hazards are identified in terms of present landfill gas concentrations and gas well temperatures monitored by a thermal imaging camera at the nonsanitary landfill “Bubanj” in Niš, Serbia, which has been in service for 49 years. Landfill gas concentrations at the landfill were measured from May to October 2015. The paper also presents ambient air temperatures, which influence landfill gas and gas well temperatures, a necessary factor of landfill fires. Significant fire predictors for the landfill body have been determined based on all the temperatures and concentrations of landfill gas components measured using the statistical method of logistic regression.