Modeling of Heat Transfers in Bioreactive Household Waste Storage Facilities: Spatial and Temporal Distributions

Abstract

In order to enhance the production of biogas and to study the thermal behavior of waste, a numerical study of fluid flows and heat transfers within household waste was developed to predict the distributions of thermal fields. The mathematical model is based on the conservation of mass and energy equations. The resulting system of equations is discretized using the finite volume method and solved using the Thomas algorithm. The results of the model studied are compared with the numerical and site measurements results from other authors. The results have been found to be in good agreement. The results show that the mathematical model is able to reproduce the thermal behavior in anaerobic phase in landfills. The isotherms revealed that temperatures are lower in the upper part of the waste cell, very high in the core and decrease slightly in the bottom of the cell due to the biodegradation of waste.