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Science makes waste less smelly

March 13, 2001

Every day, great quantities of domestic and industrial waste are put into landfill sites, covered over and left to rot. As this waste decomposes, it gives off a complicated mixture of gases, some of them poisonous and some of them smelly, often for several decades after a site is closed. As well as being unpleasant for near neighbours, landfill gas often poses a health hazard, particularly for those with respiratory problems.

Decomposition of some of the toxic materials placed in landfill sites results in the production of volatile organic compounds such as limonene and ethyl butunoate, halogenated compounds and the malodorous ("bad egg" smelling) sulphide compounds such as hydrogen sulphide, dimethyl sulphide and methanethiol. Current EU directives require that by 2010 there must be a 65% reduction in the amount of putrescibles placed in landfills.

Dr Imtiaz Ahmad and her colleagues at Manchester University are investigating how waste gases can be cleaned up with a plasma. The plasma is created by bombarding a gas with high frequency and high voltage electricity so that it becomes a soupy mixture of electrons, ions and highly charged particles. As Dr Ahmad will explain at the Institute of Physics Congress 2001 in Brighton on Monday 19 March, a noxious gas fed into this plasma reacts with it to produce new kinds of gases.

The aim is to create friendly "clean" gases that can be recycled and simply vented to the air, plus also perhaps gases that can be used as a fuel. By examining the gases coming out of the end of the plasma line using a Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometer, Dr Ahmad can see what compounds have been generated and decide what are the optimum conditions of the reaction needed to generate only desirable products.

If laboratory experiments are successful, field trials could be taking place by the end of the year. If the technique is found to be commercially viable, plasma reactors with big pipelines sunk deep into the ground could become common on landfill sites.

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