Hygienic aspects of ensuring chemical safety of using new health-saving technologies for the utilization of biogas at solid municipal waste landfills

Introduction. Environmental health issues are currently among the most important for the population of large administrative and industrial centers. Improving the quality of the environment and creating comfortable living conditions for humans using environmentally friendly methods is one of the current topical areas in environmental hygiene.

Materials and methods. The assessment of the effectiveness and chemical safety of the application of a new technology for the collection, purification, neutralization, and disposal of landfill gas for the content of a wide range of organic compounds C₅–C₂₀ at a municipal solid waste landfill was carried out using a chromato-mass spectrometric method that allows identifying and quantifying with sensitivity at and below hygienic standards a wide range of organic compounds C₅–C₂₀ in air with an unknown composition of pollutants.

Results. As a result of the operation of the new landfill gas purification system at the solid waste landfill, the total concentration of pollutants, including marginal and aromatic hydrocarbons, oxygen-containing compounds (alcohols, carboxylic acids), organic sulfur-containing compounds, and sulfur dioxide decreased. As a result of the operation of the new landfill gas purification technology, 100% purification from odourous dialkyl sulfides and nitrogen-containing compounds has been achieved. However, at the outlet of the system, compounds not detected at the inlet were identified, which can be considered as products of combustion and transformation of hydrocarbons that are part of landfill gas, the presence of which indicates to the use of an oxidative process in the process of its disposal.

Limitations. The study is limited to the application of the method of investigation of organic compounds with the molecular formula C₅–C₂₀.

Conclusion. For an adequate assessment of the quality and chemical safety to human health of health-saving technologies, an important condition is the use of physical-chemical studies that identify and quantify dozens of pollutants simultaneously, which makes it possible to take into account the multiple componentness of the chemical composition and the possibility of adverse side effects in the form of toxic transformation of products affecting humans in real environmental pollution conditions.

Compliance with ethical standards. This study does not require local ethics committee approval.

Contribution:
Malysheva A.G. — concept and design of research, text writing, material collection and data processing, editing;
Starodubova N.Yu. — data processing, text editing.
All authors are responsible for the integrity of all parts of the manuscript and approval of the manuscript final version.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgement. The study had no sponsorship.

Received: July 5, 2024 / Revised: August 8, 2024 / Accepted: October 2, 2024 / Published: November 19, 2024