StFX earth and environmental sciences researchers and students have launched an in-depth investigation into something that can’t be seen by the naked eye but plays a role in climate change. FluxLab, located at StFX, is a methane gas detection and measurement science team of 25 researchers working to improve technologies and acquire field data to accurately account for methane emissions in the waste sector.
FluxLab research group has established the world’s only Simulation Facility for Landfill Emission Experiments (SIMFLEX), to evaluate methane measurement tools. With support from Environmental Research & Education Foundation, FluxLab designed and implemented the first large-scale controlled release study mimicking landfill emissions to evaluate commercial and pre-commercial measurement technologies.
Landfill waste is responsible for about 11 per cent of global methane emissions. As the global population continues to climb, landfilled materials and associated methane levels are expected to increase. One of the most cost-effective strategies to limit future global warming is to reduce methane emissions, which, in the case of landfills, requires better understanding of how they emit.
The solid waste sector’s methane measurement needs are unique. Landfills are large, emit from different sources, and air flow around complex topography interferes with measurement.
At the Ontario-based facility, known amounts of methane are released over 20 acres from both point and area sources, regulated with programmable flow controllers. The release capacity is large enough to test satellite and aerial tools while offering sufficient spatial complexity to assess ground and drone-based tools.
Over the past two years, participants from around the world have brought their measurement solutions to site for performance assessments in blind release experiments where they search out and quantify methane releases. The participants are assembled by FluxLab’s lead researcher professor Dr. Dave Risk. The experiments are helping improve methane measurement technologies, develop new regulatory and best management practices, improve inventory accuracy, and contributes to more accurate global monitoring of landfill emissions.
Located at StFX in Atlantic Canada, FluxLab is a centre of excellence for methane measurement and data processing techniques. Many companies, NGOs and government departments bring their measurement-oriented research questions to FluxLab to be answered with specialized research, facilities, know-how, and proven ability to solve complex problems.
The next SIMFLEX studies will begin in the spring of 2025, and will continue using relationships with industry, regulators, technology vendors, and other researchers to help better understand, manage, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions at landfills, in Canada and internationally.
