Jean E. Bogner

My research has focused on transport & biodegradation processes in soils, sediments, and waste, especially field measurements and modeling related to landfill CH₄.  Early career projects varied widely: groundwater resources in Illinois Paleozoic and Pleistocene sediments; stratigraphic framework and aquifer protection studies for Chicago engineering projects (subways; rock tunnels); management of toxic wastes from coal conversion processes & nuclear energy; coal strip mine reclamation/water quality studies in various U.S. basins; and aquifer contamination/remediation projects at western U.S. sites.   A major focus over many decades has been landfill CH₄: rates of generation, commercial U.S. and international recovery/utilization projects, methanotrophic CH₄ oxidation in cover soils, and residual CH₄ emissions to the atmosphere.  Historic projects have included field measurements, supporting laboratory studies, and process-based modeling.  Recent research has focused on the development and international field-validation of a 0.5 X 0.5 deg. model (CALMIM) for landfill CH₄ emissions inclusive of site-specific operational practices and cover-specific temporal climate effects on soil gas transport and CH₄ oxidation.  Collaborators and colleagues over many decades have included Federal & state research groups, university researchers, international research & regulatory agencies, private industry, and municipalities in the U.S., Europe, Africa, Australia, and Asia.

Recent Projects

Microbiology of Elevated Temperature Landfills. 2017-Present. Collaboration with Dr. D'Arcy Meyer-Dombard, UIC/EAES. Funded by the Environmental Research & Education Foundation (EREF).

Estimation and Comparison of Methane & Nitrous Oxide Emissions/Gas Collection System Efficiencies in California Landfills. 2017-Present   Collaboration with J.Hanson and N.Yesiller [California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo);  D. Blake, University of California-Irvine; and S. Conley, Scientific Aviation, Boulder, CO. Funded by California Dept. of Resources Recovery & Recycling & California Air Resources Board.

Improving Characterization of Anthropogenic Methane Emissions in the U.S., Consensus Report, National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), [invited author], 2017-2018.

Improved Process-Based Modeling of Site-Specific Landfill Methane Emissions: Development, improvement, & international field validation of a user-friendly, process-based model [CALMIM] for cover-specific landfill methane emissions inclusive of climate and operational practices. Funded by: (1) California Energy Commission, Sacramento, CA from 2007-2010 and the Environmental Research & Education Foundation (EREF), Raleigh, NC from 2011-2014. See below for additional information.

Emissions of high global warming potential GHGs from California landfills. Funded by California Air Resources Board under subcontract to UIC from California Polytechnic State University. 2014-2016.

Effect of biochar-amended cover soils on landfill CH₄ emissions and oxidation.  Co-P.I., National Science Foundation grant to Dr. Krishna Reddy, Dept. of Civil & Materials Engineering, UIC. 2012-2015.

Overview of CALMIM Model

CALMIM [the CAlifornia Landfill Methane Inventory Model] was developed, improved, and comprehensively field-validated in collaboration with Dr. Kurt Spokas [USDA-ARS, St Paul, MN].  As a new freely-available [USDA] process-based GHG inventory model and research tool for landfill CH₄ emissions, this field-validated 0.5^o X 0.5^o JAVA tool can predict CH₄ emissions inclusive of methanotrophic soil oxidation for individual cover soils at any engineered landfill worldwide.  CALMIM explicitly models CH₄ emissions from each cover over an annual cycle based on the major drivers for emissions: namely, the various site-specific operational strategies [area & thickness of various cover materials; extent of biogas recovery; seasonal vegetation] as well as site-specific temporal climate effects on CH₄ transport and oxidation in individual cover soils. CALMIM originally focused on California sites and was subsequently improved to address international applications, including latitudinal gradients, extreme climates, and comprehensive field validation inclusive of 168 individual cover comparisons at 34 international sites on 6 continents (Spokas et al., 2020).

Climate modeling within CALMIM relies on embedded globally-validated USDA climate models [Global TempSIM; Global RainSIM; SOLARCALC; STM²] OR current site-specific weather data OR future climate projections (i.e., CMIP).  Combining climate modeling with user-supplied information on cover materials, boundary conditions & engineered gas recovery, CALMIM then models 1-D bidirectional diffusional transport of CH₄ and O₂ over a “typical annual cycle” [365 d] for individual cover soils at any site worldwide.  Using 10-min time-steps and 2.5 cm depth increments, variable CH₄ transport and emission rates are related to both fixed and transient soil properties including laboratory-derived relationships for CH₄ oxidation relative to soil temperature and soil moisture potential. Heterotrophic soil respiration is also considered [competition for O₂ with CH₄ oxidation]. Thus CALMIM includes the major drivers for emissions known from literature: e.g., the physical properties & thickness of site-specific soils, the seasonality of gaseous transport & methanotrophic oxidation in individual cover materials, and other site design & operational factors including cover areas & implementation of gas recovery.  In short, CALMIM can improve quantification of landfill sources for urban and regional GHG inventories inclusive of multiple CH₄ sources with high individual uncertainties.  This JAVA tool is compatible with PC, MAC/OS, and UNIX systems and is freely available at: https://www.ars.usda.gov/research/software/download/?softwareid=300

Shared Nobel Peace Prize, 2007, awarded to IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) for 4^th Assessment Report

J. Bogner was the coordinating lead author for chapter addressing waste management. See: Bogner, J., M. Abdelrafie Ahmed, C. Diaz, A. Faaij, Q. Gao, S. Hashimoto, K. Mareckova, R. Pipatti, T. Zhang, Chapter 10. Waste Management, in Climate Change 2007: Mitigation. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [B. Metz, O.R. Davidson, P.R. Bosch, R. Dave, L.A. Meyer, eds., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, NY USA] (2007).

CALMIM Publications:

1. Spokas, K., Bogner, J, and Corcoran, M., Modeling landfill CH₄emissions: CALMIM international field validation, using CALMIM to simulate management strategies, current and future climate scenarios. Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene [Elem. Sci. Anth] (2020) 9 (1): 00050. https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2020.00050.
2. Meyer-Dombard, D.R., Bogner, J., Malas, J., A Review of Landfill Microbiology and Ecology: A Call for Modernization with “Next Generation” Technology. Frontiers in Microbiology, Vol 11, Art. 1127. DOI:10.3389/fmcb.2020.01.01127. (2020).
3. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Improving Characterization of Anthropogenic Methane Emissions in the United States. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: https://doi.org/10.17226/24987. [Consensus Study Report by invited authors, including J. Bogner]. http://nap.edu/  (2018).
4. Cambaliza, M.O., Bogner, J., Green, R., Shepson, P., Harvey, T., Spokas, K., Stirm, B., and Corcoran, M. Field Measurements and Modeling to Resolve m² to km² CH₄ Emissions for a Complex Urban Source: An Indiana Landfill Study, Elem. Sci. Anth.  5: 000145 (2017).  https://www. elementascience org/articles/145/.
5. Spokas K., Bogner J., Corcoran M., and Walker S., From California dreaming to California data: Challenging historic models for landfill CH₄ emissions. Elem. Sci. Anth 3: 000051 doi: 10.12952/journal.elementa.000051 (2015).   https://www.elementascience.org/articles/51.

6. Cambaliza, M.O., Shepson, P.B., Bogner, J., Daulton, D., Stirm, B., Sweeney, C., Montzka, S., Gurney, K., Spokas, K., Salmon, O., Lavoie, T., et al., Quantification and Source Apportionment of the Methane Emission Flux from the City of Indianapolis, Elem. Sci. Anth 3:000037, doi:10.12952 (2015). https://www.elementascience.org/articles/37.
7. Spokas, K., Bogner J., and Chanton, J., A Process-Based Inventory Model for Landfill CH₄Emissions Inclusive of Soil Microclimate and Seasonal Methane Oxidation. J. Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences, 116: paper G04017, 19 p. (2011).
8. Bogner, J., Spokas, K., and Chanton, J., Seasonal Greenhouse Gas Emissions (methane, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide) from Engineered Landfills: Daily, Intermediate, and Final California Landfill Cover Soils.  J. Environ. Quality 40:1010-1020 (2011).
9. Spokas, K., and Bogner, J., Limits and Dynamics of CH₄ Oxidation in Landfill Cover Soils. Waste Management 31(5):823-32. (2011). doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2009.12.018.

Historic Publications:

1. Yesiller, N., Hanson, J., Sohn, A., Bogner, J., and Blake, D., Spatial and Temporal Variability in Emissions of Fluorinated Gases from a California Landfill, Environmental Science & Technology [ES&T], DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.8b0084552: 6789–6797 (2018).
2. Bogner, J., Chanton, J., Blake, D., Abichou, T., and Powelson, D., Effectiveness of a Florida Landfill Biocover for Reduction of CH₄ and NMHC Emissions. ES&T, 44: 1197-1203 (2010).
3. Bogner, J., and Spokas, K., “Landfills”, in Methane and Climate Change, Earthscan Publishers (D. Reay, P. Smith & A. van Amstel, eds.) Earthscan Ltd., UK (2010).
4. Scheutz, C., Kjeldsen, P., Bogner, J., deVisscher, A., Gebert, J., Hilger, H., Huber-Humer, M., and Spokas, K., Microbial Methane Oxidation Processes and Technologies for Mitigation of Landfill Gas Emissions, Waste Management & Research, 27: 409-455 (2009).
5. Reddy, K., Hettierachchi, H., Parakalla, H., Gangathulasi, J., Bogner, J., and Lagier, T., Hydraulic Conductivity of Municipal Solid Waste in Landfills, ASCE J. of Environmental Engineering 135:677-683 (2009).
6. Scheutz, C., Bogner, J., Chanton, J.P., Blake, D., Morcet, M., Aran, C., and Kjeldsen, P., Atmospheric Emissions and Attenuation of Non-Methane Organic Compounds in Cover Soils at a French Landfill, Waste Management 28:1892-1908 (2008).
7. Bogner, J., Pipatti, R., Hashimoto, S., Diaz, C., Mareckova, K., Diaz, L., Kjeldsen, P., Monni, S., Faaij, A., Gao, Q., Zhang, T., Ahmed, M.A., Sutamihardja R.T.M., and Gregory, R., Mitigation of Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Waste: Conclusions and Strategies from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report.Working Group III (Mitigation). Waste Management & Research 26: 11-32 (2008).
8. Spokas, K., Bogner, J., Chanton, J., Morcet, M., Aran, C., Graff, C., Moreau-le-Golvan, Y., Bureau, N. and Hebe, I. Methane Mass Balance at Three Landfill Sites: What is the Efficiency of Capture by Gas Collection Systems?  Waste Management 26:516-525 (2006).
9. Scheutz., C., Bogner, J., Chanton, J.P., Blake, D., Morcet, M., and Kjeldsen, P., Comparative oxidation and net emissions of CH₄ and selected non-methane organic compounds in landfill cover soils, ES&T 37:5143-5149 (2003).
10. Bogner, J.E. and E. Matthews, Global Methane Emissions from Landfills: New Methodology and Annual Estimates 1980-1996, Global Biogeochemical Cycles 17:34-1 to 34-18 (2003).
11. Bogner, J.E., Sass, R., and B. Walter, Model Comparisons of Methane Oxidation across a Management Gradient: Wetlands, Rice Production Systems, and Landfill, Global Biogeochemical Cycles 14:1021-1033 (2000).
12. Bogner, J.E., K. Spokas, and E. Burton, Temporal Variations in Greenhouse Gas Emissions at a Midlatitude Landfill. Journal of Environmental Quality 28:277-288 (1999).
13. Bogner, J.E., K. Spokas, and E. Burton, Kinetics of Methane Oxidation in Landfill Cover Materials: Major controls, a whole-landfill oxidation experiment, and modeling of net methane emissions. ES&T 31:2504-2614 (1997).
14. Bogner, J. & Spokas, K..Landfill CH4: rates, fates, and role in global carbon cycle. Chemosphere, 26,366—386 (1993).
15. Bogner, J., Anaerobic Burial of Refuse in Landfills: Increased Atmospheric Methane and Implications for Increased Carbon Storage. Ecological Bulletin, 42,98—108 (1992).

• Research Gate

B.A. Geology, Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois, 1969.
M.S. Geology, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1973.
Ph.D., Geology, Northern Illinois University, 1996.