Bioreactor Landfills

Mark Elbag
Scott J. Neithercut
 Introduction: Goals
 Provide necessary information and resources
– Sanitary landfills
– Landfills as bioreactors
 Develop parameters for fundamental design
concepts
 Make feasible recommendations for the design and
operation of a full scale bioreactor landfill
– Crapo Hill, New Bedford, Massachusetts
 Landfilling

 The practice of waste disposal

 To protect human health
– Disease
– Toxins
 To protect the environment
– Burning
– Littering
 As of 1990 federal regulations have changed the way we
dispose of waste
Environmental Concerns of Landfilling

 Groundwater contamination
– leachate
 Greenhouse gas emission
– methane
 Sanitary Landfills

 A engineered system to protect the surrounding

environment from landfill waste
 Before 1990
– 10,000 landfills unlined
 Since 1990 federal regulations require landfills to have
– Caps
– Liners
– Leachate collection systems
 Landfill Leachate

 Water that comes into contact with waste

 Contains high concentrations of organic
contaminants and heavy metals
 Varies depending upon the composition of
the waste and the age of the waste (different
decomposition stages of waste)
 Landfill Gas

 Produced from the decomposition of organic waste

 40-60 % methane
 Carbon dioxide
 Small amounts trace gasses
– Hydrogen sulfide
– Water vapor
– Hydrogen
– Others
 Common Landfill Liner Components

 Compacted soil barrier liners

– Clay with hydraulic conductivity <10-7 cm/sec
 Synthetic barrier liners
– High density polyethylene (HDPE)
– bentonite liner
 Leachate collection system
– HDPE pipes
– Drainage gravel
– Geotextile filter
 Landfill Cap Components

 Gas vent layer

 Low hydraulic conductivity barrier layer
 Drainage layer
 Soil and vegetation layer
 Treatment of Landfill Byproducts

 Leachate
– Piped to local sewer system
– Trucked to wastewater treatment plant
– Treated on-site
 Gas
– Vented
– Burned with control flare
– Used as and energy source
 Components of an Anaerobic
Bioreactor Landfill

 Liner
 Cap
 Leachate Collection
System
 Leachate Recirculation

System
 Gas Collection System
 Leachate Recirculation Systems

 Verticalinjection wells
 Horizontal trenches
 Crapo Hill Sanitary Landfill Site
Description

 Greater New Bedford Regional Refuse

Management District
 Double-liner technology
 Advanced leachate management system
 Potential for recirculating leachate
 Volume Design Parameters

 3.3 acre cell with MSW rising to 105 feet

 Each lift of MSW will be 15 feet constructed
at a 3:1 slope
 Total Volume equals 349,387.5 cubic yards
 Waste Generation and Quantities

 Approximately one year and eight months to

fill the cell
 199,063.8 tons of MSW
 126,889.2 tons of cover material
 The mass of waste to be placed in cell three
was determined to be 325,953 tons
Waste Generation and Quantities

Quantities of Waste Generated Over 1.8 Years

350000

300000

250000
Weight of Waste, tons

200000
W aste Quantites
150000

100000

50000

0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
Placem e nt of W aste, da ys
 Density of Waste

 The density of waste for cell three was

estimated to be 1865.9 pounds per cubic
yard
 This number was calculated to determine the
field capacity of the cell which is a function of
density
 Quantity of Leachate Generated and
Amount of Leachate Recirculated

 Precipitationdata
 Moisture from incoming waste
 Moisture content of MSW
 Field capacity
 Amount of leachate recirculated to bring the
moisture content to optimum levels for
biodegradation
Liner and Leachate Collection System

 Subtitle
D of the Resource Conservation and
Recover Act
Leachate Recirculation System Design

 Bringthe waste to a moisture content that is

optimum for waste degradation
 Moisture Content of 55%
 Horizontal Trench Placement Design

 Maximum control of leachate recirculation

Leachate Pumping System Design
Design Summary For Leachate
Recirculation
 Methane Emissions Estimation

 MethaneProduction Curve for Cell 3 with

Leachate Recirculation
250000000
Methane Emissions, cubic ft per year

200000000

150000000

100000000

50000000

0
0 5 10 15 20
Year
Methane Generation Curve
 Methane Emissions Estimation

 MethaneGeneration Curve for Cell 3 without

Leachate Recirculation
100000000

80000000
Methane Emissions, cubic ft per year

60000000

40000000

20000000

0
0 5 10 15 20
Year
Methane Generation Curve
 Conclusions

 Innovative concepts and emerging technology

 Develop and promote the idea of treating a landfill as
a bioreactor
 Reference manual for site specific inquiries for a
bioreactor at the Crapo Hill Sanitary Landfill
 Conceptual design approach for future
implementation of this technology
 Environmentally safe method for MSW disposal
 Acknowledgements

 Sam Chapin, Senior Engineer, Brown and

Caldwell
 Professor John Bergendahl
 Our parents
Questions?