A micrometeorological technique to monitor total hydrocarbon emissions from landfarms to the atmosphere.
Landfarming is used to treat petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated soils and a variety of waste streams from industrial operations. Wastes are applied to a soil surface and indigenous soil microorganisms utilize the hydrocarbons in the applied waste as a carbon source for metabolism, thereby biodegrading the applied material. Concerns have been expressed that abiotic losses, such as volatilization, play a significant role in hydrocarbon reduction within the soil. To assist in better defining atmospheric releases of total hydrocarbons from landfarms treating petroleum hydrocarbons, a flux gradient micrometeorological approach was developed and integrated with a custom-built total hydrocarbon detector, and a novel air sampling system and averaging algorithm. The micrometeorological technique offers unobtrusive spatially averaged real-time continuous measurements, thereby providing a time history of emissions. This provides opportunities to investigate mechanisms controlling emissions and to evaluate landfarm management strategies. The versatility of the technique is illustrated through measurements performed at a remote landfarm used to treat diesel fuel-contaminated soil in northern Ontario and during routine operations at two active refinery landfarms in southwestern Ontario.
Ausma
S
S
Dep of Land Resource Science, Univ of Guleph, ON, Canada. sausma@uoguelph.ca
Edwards
G C
GC
Wong
E K
EK
Gillespie
T J
TJ
Fitzgerald-Hubble
C R
CR
Halfpenny-Mitchell
L
L
Mortimer
W P
WP
D000383:Agriculture; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D006838:Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis*; D012037:Refuse Disposal; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D014887:Weather
D000393:Air Pollutants; D006838:Hydrocarbons