A quantitative investigation of methane gas and solid waste management in mountainous Srinagar city-A case study

Methane has tremendous potential for energy production, and enormous amounts of energy can be produced using suitable technology. To address this issue, a case study of Srinagar city has been taken into consideration for detailed assessment of methane. Srinagar, one of India’s primary tourist attractions, has significant potential to contribute to clean energy by reducing the effect of greenhouse gases. Thus, this research focuses on the methane production, current municipal solid waste management (MSWM) pattern and challenges in the mountainous city of Srinagar. A comprehensive study was conducted to assess  the generation, collection, transportation and dumping of solid waste and improve the prevailing scenario of MSWM. It was estimated the mass of trash was dumped and the methane production capacity was obtained. In this context, the LandGEM and IPCC 2006 models were used to quantify and validate methane emissions from the Achan landfill site (divided into three cells area-wise) in Srinagar city. For the model simulation, input variables such as open landfill year, land closure year, methane production rate, potential methane production capacity, and trash acceptance rate were considered. Based on the analysis, the calculated landfill gases were estimated to be 2.214 × 10⁶ m³ year⁻¹ for cell-1, 3.012 × 10⁶ m³ year⁻¹ for cell-2, and 3.02 × 10⁶ m³ year⁻¹ for cell-3. The findings of this study can be utilized to design and install the methane gas collection systems to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the Achan landfill.