Abstract
In 2010, an foot-and-mouth disease epidemic occurred in Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan. Over the period from April to August 2010, almost 290,000 animals were culled and buried. The burial of these carcasses significantly increased people's awareness of environmental contamination. However, little information has been generated on environmental pollution from burial sites. In this study, the characteristics and contamination levels of leachate and gas produced at the burial site were determined using laboratory-scale columns that simulated the burial site. In the case of higher water injection intensity, solubilization of organic substances was initiated in the early stages of the experiment. When the ammonia concentrations in the column decreased to a level suitable for methane fermentation, the amount of gas generated started to increase because of an increase in methane gas production. In the case where water was not injected, a significantly smaller amount of gas was generated except in the early stages of the experiment. The amount of methane gas generated in the column was reduced with the use of sawdust. During the two-year experimental period, the residual carbon concentration was 60%-70% and 90% in the column with water injection and the column without water injection, respectively.
