Screening methane-oxidizing bacteria from municipal solid waste landfills and simulating their effects on methane and ammonia reduction

Municipal solid waste landfills are not only a crucial source of global greenhouse gas emissions; they also produce large amounts of ammonia (NH3), hydrogen sulfide, and other odorous gases that negatively affect the regional environment. Several types of methane-oxidizing bacteria (MOB) were proved to be effective in mitigating methane emission from landfills. Nevertheless, more MOB species and their technical parameters for best mitigating methane still need to be explored. In landfills, methane is simultaneously generated with ammonia, which may impede the CH4 bio-oxidizing process of MOB. However, very limited studies examined the enhancement of methane reduction by introducing ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) in landfills. In this study, two enriched MOB cultures were gained from a typical municipal solid waste landfill, and then were cultured with three strains of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB). The MOB enrichment culture used in this work includes Methylocaldum, Methylocystaceae, and Methyloversatilis, with a methane oxidation capacity of 43.6–65.0%, and the AOB includes Candida ethanolica, Bacillus cereus, and Alcaligenes faecalis. The effects on the emission reduction of both NH3 and CH4 were measured using self-made landfill-simulating equipment, as MOB, AOB, and a MOB–AOB mixture were added to the soil cover of the simulation equipment. The concentrations of CH4 and NH3 in the MOB–AOB mixture group decreased sharply, and the CH4 and NH3 concentration was 76.4% and 83.7% of the control group level. We also found that addition of AOB can help MOB oxidize CH4 and improve the emission reduction effect.