CLU-IN.ORG | Technology Focus: BIOREACTOR LANDFILLS, Application

Bioreactor Landfills

Select a Topic | Technology Focus Home | Suggest Resource

◊ Air Sparging
◊ Bioreactor Landfills
◊ Bioremediation of Chlorinated Solvents
◊ Bioventing and Biosparging
◊ Electrokinetics: Electric Current Technologies
◊ Fracturing
◊ Ground-Water Circulating Wells
◊ In Situ Flushing
◊ In Situ Oxidation
◊ Multi-Phase Extraction
◊ Natural Attenuation
◊ Permeable Reactive Barriers
◊ Phytoremediation
◊ Remediation Optimization
◊ Soil Vapor Extraction
◊ Soil Washing
◊ Solvent Extraction
◊ Thermal Treatment: Ex Situ
◊ Thermal Treatment: In Situ

Application

Demonstration Projects

Buncombe County Landfill, Alexander, Buncombe County, North Carolina

Buncombe County has been researching a new method for operating sanitary landfills—leachate recirculation and gas collection. The County describes five components in the proposal: 1) combined leachate recirculation and gas collection; 2) horizontal trenches; 3) pressure injection system; 4) active gas collection; and, 5) alternative liner system. Buncombe County proposes that this pilot will generate results that could be transferable to other facilities.

Florida Bioreactor Landfill Demonstration Project

Originally begun in 1998, the Bioreactor Landfill Demonstration Project is a five-year project managed by the Florida Center for Solid and Hazardous Waste Management in Gainesville, FL.

Landfill Bioreactor Performance: Second Interim Report, Outer Loop Recycling & Disposal Facility, Louisville, Kentucky
U.S. EPA, National Risk Management Research Laboratory. EPA 600-R-07-060, 240 pp, 2006

Evaluates 3 types of landfill cells: (1) a control cell, to which no liquids were added; (2) a cell to which liquids were added after the cell had been completely filled with waste (i.e., the retrofit cell); and (3) a cell in which liquids and air were added as the waste was placed in the landfill (i.e., the as-built cell).

Landfills as Bioreactors: Research at the Outer Loop Landfill, Louisville, Kentucky. First Interim Report
G. Hater, R. Green, G. Vogt, W. Davis-Hoover, D. Carson, S. Thorneloe, and F. Kremer.
EPA 600-R-03-097, 406 pp, 2003
Contact: David Carson, carson.david@epa.gov

U.S. EPA's National Risk Management Research Laboratory and Waste Management Inc. are engaged in a multi-year field demonstration of two techniques of landfill bioreactor construction and operation, one a new landfill designed as a bioreactor and the other a retrofitted existing landfill.

Maplewood Landfill and King George County Landfills, Virginia

Waste Management of Virginia, Inc., proposes to implement two slightly different waste treatment systems. Waste Management plans to recirculate leachate at Maplewood Recycling and Waste Disposal Facility (Maplewood Landfill), and implement bioreactor operations at the King George County Landfill and Recycling Facility (King George County Landfill.)

Measurement of Fugitive Emissions at a Bioreactor Landfill
M. Modrak, R. Hashmonay, R. Varma, and R. Kagann.
EPA 600-R-05-096, 122 pp, 2005

In three 2002-2003 field campaigns, an open-path Fourier transform infrared (OP-FTIR) spectrometer was used to measure fugitive emissions at a bioreactor landfill in Louisville, KY. This report presents the results.

Measurement of Fugitive Emissions at a Landfill Practicing Leachate Recirculation and Air Injection
M. Modrak, R.A. Hashmonay, R. Varma, and R. Kagann, ARCADIS Geraghty and Miller, Inc., Durham, NC.
EPA 600-R-05-088, 51 pp, 2005

In a a fugitive emissions characterization study at the Three Rivers Solid Waste Technology Center Landfill located near Jackson, SC, the investigators evaluated emissions of methane and hazardous air pollutants at the site using scanning open-path Fourier transform infrared spectrometers and open-path tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy. Horizontal radial plume mapping was used to map surface methane concentrations, and vertical radial plume mapping was used to measure emissions fluxes downwind of the site.

Northern Oaks Landfill, Harrison, Michigan

Michigan State University at Lansing began in 2001 a project to design and operate a bioreactor landfill cell and quantify its emissions. The bioreactor cell is located at Northern Oaks Landfill in Harrison, Michigan. The filling of the bioreactor site was completed in February 2003; the waste is degrading and monitoring has shown good liquid circulation; readings indicate good methane ratios and 50% moisture levels. The project is on schedule. Note: EREF seeks additional funding to carry the project through the next five years. Contact: Dr. Ed Repa, 703-299-5139 x11.

Williamson County, Tennessee Aerated Bioreactor Landfill
Additional Information

The Williamson County aerated bioreactor is a retrofit system into an existing waste cell. The system consists of an array of over 150 vertical wells placed into the mass to facilitate the injection of compressed air, leachate (and/or make-up water from a near-by storm water collection pond), and other amendments, such as nutrients, if needed.

Yolo County Bioreactor Landfill, California

Yolo County proposes to operate its next 12-acre landfill module near Davis, California, as a controlled bioreactor landfill.

Full Scale Bioreactor Landfill for Carbon Sequestration and Greenhouse Emission Control. Final Report
R. Yazdani, J. Kieffer, K. Sananikone, and D. Augenstein.
Yolo County, Planning and Public Works Department, Woodland, CA. 178 pp, 2006

The first phase of this project entailed the construction of a 12-acre module that contained a 6-acre anaerobic cell, a 3.5-acre anaerobic cell, and a 2.5-acre aerobic cell at the Yolo County Central Landfill near Davis, CA. The cells were highly instrumented to monitor bioreactor performance. Liquid addition commenced in the 3.5-acre anaerobic cell and the 6-acre anaerobic cell. Construction of the 2.5-acre aerobic cell and biofilter has been completed. The project status as of 2006 and preliminary monitoring results are summarized.

T2LBM Version 1.0: Landfill Bioreactor Model for TOUGH2
Oldenburg, Curtis M., Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Univ. of California, Berkeley.
Report No: LBNL-47961, 60 pp, Nov 2001

The need to control gas and leachate production and minimize refuse volume in landfills has motivated the development of landfill simulation models that can be used by operators to predict and design optimal treatment processes. T2LBM is a module for the TOUGH2 simulator that implements a Landfill Bioreactor Model to provide simulation capability for the processes of aerobic or anaerobic biodegradation of municipal solid waste and the associated flow and transport of gas and liquid through the refuse mass.