Potential application of biocover soils to landfills for mitigating toluene emission

Abstract Biocover soils have been demonstrated to be a good alternative cover material to mitigate CH 4 emission from landfills. To evaluate the potential of biocover soil in mitigating emissions of non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) from landfills, simulated cover soil columns with the influx of toluene (chosen as typical of NMVOCs) concentrations of 102–1336 m gm −3 in the presence or absence of the major landfill gas components (i.e., CH 4 and CO 2 ) were conducted in this study. In the two experimental materials (waste biocover soils (WBS) and landfill cover soils (LCS)), higher toluene reduction was observed in WBS with respect to LCS. After the introduction of landfill gas, an increase of microbial diversity and relative abundance of toluene-degrading bacteria and methanotrophs occurred in WBS. To illustrate the role of toluene-degrading activity in mitigating toluene emissions through landfill covers, an analytical model was developed by incorporating the steady-state vapor transport with the first-order kinetics of aerobic biodegradation limited by O 2 availability. This study demonstrated that biocover soils have great potential in applying to landfills for mitigating toluene emission to the atmosphere.