Investigation of daily covering material for biocells

Abstract

Abstract Bioreactor landfilling, with the acceptance of landfill Directive 1999/31/EC has lost its actuality in European Union; at the same time, this method can still be used for acceleration of biowaste degradation and biogas production. One of the possibilities to reduce the disposal of biowaste is to use biocells for its anaerobic pre-treatment before landfilling. The daily filling up of such a cell requires isolation of the main volume to limit gas emissions, reduce smells, etc. Bioprocesses that are of the utmost importance for biocell treatment are often not taken into account in selection of materials to be used as daily landfill covers. Based on physical, chemical and biological methods the investigations have been carried out into different covering materials offered in the market, with identification of parameters that are the most important for daily covering the biocells. It is found that the materials fitted best this purpose should be of biological origin and consist of small bio-particles with large surface, without the inhibitors of anaerobic processes such as sulphuric compounds.