Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Biofilter Reduces Landfill Pollution

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 13 2012 (IPS) - Researchers at the University of São Paulo have developed a biofilter that uses bacteria to reduce the amount of polluting gases released by sanitary landfills. Sanitary landfills are the final destination of 30 percent of solid waste in Brazil. While they are meant to minimize the impacts of waste on the environment, their soils release gases like methane, produced through the fermentation of buried trash, which leak into the air through cracks in the surface.

The new system developed involves promoting the multiplication of a type of bacteria that consumes methane. These bacteria are mixed with waste matter removed from the soil and then put back in order to form a layer covering the surface of the landfill.

“Some landfills transform the methane released into energy, but this option is not economically feasible. The new method produces environmental gains without incurring high costs,” engineer Fernando Marinho, the coordinator of the research, told Tierramérica.