<p>Högbytorp is Ragn-Sells’ largest waste facility and it is located north of Stockholm. There is an old landfill still in use, but at the end of this year it will be closed. The waste deposited on the landfill can, through decomposition, give rise to a large amount of methane gas, which is an energy rich gas that can be used for heat and electricity production. To receive a relatively large amount of gas, the decomposition requires a high moisture content in the waste. Therefore the landfill is dependent on precipitation input, although when the landfill is covered, rainfall can no longer infiltrate the landfill and hence irrigation might be necessary to sustain gas production. To know where to irrigate, knowledge about the material content in the landfill is necessary. Thus the purpose of this report is to identify and describe what kind and amount of waste that has been deposited on the landfill and also where the waste has been placed. The purpose is also to investigate the availability of methods and that are used in Sweden for establishing a water balance for a landfill. The identification work showed that the landfill consists mainly of household-, construction- and industrial waste, retted sludge from sewage treatment plants and soil, which all can produce large quantities of methane gas. The investigation about the different methods for conducting a water balance resulted in the presentation of two methods. One of the methods is called Hydrologic Evaluation of Landfill Performance (HELP) and is a computer simulation. The other method is an equation established by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Naturvårdsverket). Both of the methods works well for obtaining a water balance, however modification is needed for each of them in order to be well suited for the studied landfill, so that realistic and site specific results can be obtained.</p>

Högbytorp is Ragn-Sells’ largest waste facility and it is located north of Stockholm. There is an old landfill still in use, but at the end of this year it will be closed. The waste deposited on the landfill can, through decomposition, give rise to a large amount of methane gas, which is an energy rich gas that can be used for heat and electricity production. To receive a relatively large amount of gas, the decomposition requires a high moisture content in the waste. Therefore the landfill is dependent on precipitation input, although when the landfill is covered, rainfall can no longer infiltrate the landfill and hence irrigation might be necessary to sustain gas production. To know where to irrigate, knowledge about the material content in the landfill is necessary. Thus the purpose of this report is to identify and describe what kind and amount of waste that has been deposited on the landfill and also where the waste has been placed. The purpose is also to investigate the availability of methods and that are used in Sweden for establishing a water balance for a landfill. The identification work showed that the landfill consists mainly of household-, construction- and industrial waste, retted sludge from sewage treatment plants and soil, which all can produce large quantities of methane gas. The investigation about the different methods for conducting a water balance resulted in the presentation of two methods. One of the methods is called Hydrologic Evaluation of Landfill Performance (HELP) and is a computer simulation. The other method is an equation established by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Naturvårdsverket). Both of the methods works well for obtaining a water balance, however modification is needed for each of them in order to be well suited for the studied landfill, so that realistic and site specific results can be obtained.