Physio-chemical characterisation of dumped solid waste

Year 2025, Volume: 8 Issue: 1, 177 - 185, 31.03.2025

Md. Mumtaz Alam , Kafeel Ahmad Mehtab Alam

https://doi.org/10.35208/ert.1460374

Abstract

Landfilling is the most common practice used for the disposal of solid waste since it is the cheapest method of municipal solid waste management. The present study aims to determine the physical and chemical characteristics of dumped solid waste collected directly from the Okhla landfill site (New Delhi, India) which has been declared as exhausted in 2018. These waste samples have been collected having ages beyond 20 years. Further, several laboratory tests were performed on the samples to investigate parameters namely physical composition, moisture content, density, optimum moisture content, pH, electrical conductivity, percentages of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), hydrogen (H), sulphur (S) and C/N ratio. The physical composition of samples was found to be substantially heterogeneous. The mean values for moisture content and optimum moisture content were observed as 10.03% and 22.27% respectively. Moreover, the mean of density, pH and electrical conductivity was obtained as 1323.88 kg/m3, 6.44 and 3.06 mho/cm respectively. On the other hand, the elemental parameters C, H, N, S mean percentages were evaluated as 5.98%, 0.73%, 0.27% and 0.71%. Consequently, C/N ratio was evaluated as 23.46 for the samples. These results have also been compared with the MSW characteristics of Asian countries.

Keywords

Composition, Elemental parameters, Exhausted dumped solid waste, Laboratory test, Physical parameters

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