Characterization of waste excavated from an old uncontrolled landfill

The study focuses on the characterization of waste extracted from Villadose landfill in Rovigo, Italy. It provides an accurate assessment of waste composition, evaluating its stability and degradation behavior under specific conditions. The main aspect includes description of the Villadose landfill site and The methodology which used for characterization of waste. Biochemical Methane Potential (BMP) testing was used to evaluate the organic waste's potential for methane production under the anaerobic and aerobic conditions. Laboratory simulations were carried out to replicate landfill environments and analytical techniques such as Total Solids (TS), Volatile Solids (VS) and Total Organic Carbon (TOC) analysis were applied to evaluate waste composition. This study also includes estimating the Respimetric Index (RI) to determine waste stability and biodegradable properties. The results indicated that flushing and co-disposal were found as the main factors of methane production dropped by 76–82%. In contrast, aeration indicated only a minor effect, as shown by the lack of significant differences in final Biochemical Methane Potential (BMP) values between reactors A1, A2 and AN which shows that under the analyzed conditions, aeration was inefficient due to high flushing applied and the experiment's limited time.