Mechanism of H 2S removal during landfill stabilization in waste biocover soil, an alterative landfill cover

Hydrogen sulfide (H 2S) is one of the primary contributors to odors at landfills. The mechanism of waste biocover soil (WBS) for H 2S removal was investigated in simulated landfill systems with the contrast experiment of a landfill cover soil (LCS). The H 2S removal efficiency was higher than 90% regardless of the WBS or LCS covers. The input of landfill gas (LFG) could stimulate the growth of aerobic heterotrophic bacteria, actinomycete, sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (SOB) in the WBS cover, while that caused a decrease of 1-2 orders of magnitude in the populations of actinomycete and fungi in the bottom layer of the LCS cover. As H 2S inputted, the sulfide content in the WBS cover increased and reached the maximum on day 30. In the LCS cover, the highest soil sulfide content was exhibited in the bottom layer during the whole experiment. After exposure to LFG, the lower pH value and higher sulfate content were observed in the top layer of the WBS cover, while there was not a significant difference in different layers of the LCS cover. The results indicated a more rapid biotransformation between sulfide and sulfate occurred in the WBS cover compared to the LCS. © 2012 Elsevier B.V..