Mapping concentrations of airborne matter to quantify the fugitive emissions discharge rate from a landfill

Abstract

The concentrations of methane in an emission plume from a demolition waste landfill located on Shxwhá:y Village land in Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada were mapped in cross-section and the methane emission discharge rate was quantified using the airborne matter mapping (AMM) method. Application of the AMM method involved the measurement of wind velocity at the site, mounting a GPS and a fast, high-resolution concentration measurement instrument on a helicopter and then travelling through the plume along a measurement path, with each sampling run at different elevations. The data were contoured to produce a map of concentrations in cross-section through the plume on a measurement surface. The methane concentration data were also projected with the wind flow direction onto a flux plane and, when the wind speed was applied and an adjustment made for the background concentrations, the net mass flow rate of methane across the measurement surface and the mass emission discharge rate from the fugitive emission source were calculated to be 2.3 g/s. However, a portion of the plume was not mapped.