Nobutoshi Tanaka* and Kazuei Ishii**

*Department of Environmental and Sanitary Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University
**Department of Environmental and Sanitary Engineering, Hokkaido University

+ Correspondence should be addressed to Nobutoshi Tanaka:
(Nishi 8, Kita 13, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060 Japan)

Abstract

In the potential case, where solid waste containing a small amount of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and/or high density VOC liquid might be disposed of in sanitary landfill sites, the VOC transportation and attenuation process is described. The VOC transport process by unsaturated water flow caused by precipitation and landfill gas flow by anaerobic gas production is especially described in detail. After the description of distribution coefficient and absorption rate between refuse and liquid, and Henry's law constant between liquid and gas, a developed mathematical model of VOC transport by unsaturated water flow and landfill gas flow is presented. As a result, most VOC's, newly specified as hazardous coumpounds by the wastes disposal standards of the Waste Management Law amended in 1994 will be transported upward by landfill gas flow and then may become detectable in landfill gas.

Key words: volatile organic compound, sanitary landfill, landfill gas, leachate, transport