Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Series editor
Timothy G. Townsend
Sustainable Practices
for Landfill Design
and Operation
Timothy G. Townsend
Department of Environmental Engineering
Sciences
Engineering School of Sustainable
Infrastructure and Environment
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL, USA
Pradeep Jain
Innovative Waste Consulting Services, LLC
Gainesville, FL, USA
Thabet Tolaymat
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Cincinnati, OH, USA
Jon Powell
Innovative Waste Consulting Services, LLC
Gainesville, FL, USA
Qiyong Xu
Peking University Shenzhen
Graduate School
Shenzhen, China
Debra Reinhart
Department of Civil, Environmental
and Construction Engineering
University of Central Florida
Orlando, FL, USA
(eBook)
Preface
This book was developed for waste and materials management practitioners all over
the world, including researchers, practicing engineers and scientists, municipality
staff and management, landfill operators, and regulatory agencies. The body of
work presented here results from the development of bioreactor landfill design
guidelines for the US Environmental Protection Agencys Office of Research and
Development, along with the combined knowledge and experience of the authors
pertaining to sustainable practices for design and operation of sanitary landfills. We
presume the reader has a basic understanding of landfills, although the initial chapters attempt to set the stage by providing introductory commentary and a discussion
of fundamental landfill concepts (both traditional and sustainable).
Following the introductory Chaps. 13, we provide a series of case studies that
highlight the state of the practice of sustainable landfilling throughout the world.
We sequenced the book so that readers could obtain a practical view of historic and
current practices at operating facilities and how approaches to sustainable landfilling can differ from one location to another. Subsequent chapters are broken up to
present discrete, focused discussion on the various infrastructure components,
design practices, operational considerations, and monitoring elements that promote the more sustainable use of landfills as a component of integrated solid waste
management systems.
This book was not written from a position of advocacy. Although the idea of
accelerating decomposition in landfills has been around for decades, we felt that the
opportunity to present the current state of science, including benefits and concerns,
as well as current limitations and uncertainties, was appropriate, particularly in light
of the significant amount of research and full-scale operational experience in the last
20 years. Furthermore, this text was not intended to be a rigorous design manual
sufficient to completely design landfill-integrating sustainable technologies. Rather,
the book was developed to serve as a tool for designers, regulators, and other parties
interested in sustainable landfill practices and to be used in conjunction with fundamental design methodologies, location-specific regulations, new and emerging
research results, and good engineering judgment. Dozens of graphs, figures, and
tables provided throughout the text provide the designer an excellent foundation to
v
vi
Preface
begin their analysis and apply the principles from this book to their site or facility.
In like fashion, operational experiences are provided throughout, tying in the important underlying fundamental concepts (e.g., accelerated gas production after liquids
addition) to critical operational considerations (e.g., how to effectively collect the
additional gas that is produced).
This book was designed to be assimilated by the reader in two ways. First, for the
novice on the topic of sustainable landfills, a back-to-front reading through the
chapters in sequence will provide an excellent background on sustainable landfilling practices since the chapters are presented in a progressive order; planning considerations are followed by detailed design and operational considerations, which
are in turn followed by end-of-facility-life considerations. Second, for the more
advanced reader, individual chapters may be examined with enough context so that
the reader can apply the information presented in the book to their particular problem without heavy reliance on previous or subsequent chapters.
Gainesville, FL
Gainesville, FL
Gainesville, FL
Shenzhen, China
Cincinnati, OH
Orlando, FL
Timothy G. Townsend
Jon Powell
Pradeep Jain
Qiyong Xu
Thabet Tolaymat
Debra Reinhart
Acknowledgements
The efforts and contributions of numerous people that helped to make this book a
reality must be acknowledged. At the University of Florida, Shaun Alvarado, Jim
Wally, and Longsheng Jiang helped tremendously in organizing the chapters, references, and figures. Dr. Hwidong Kim provided valuable expertise in the development of many of the books figures. At Innovative Waste Consulting Services in
Gainesville, FL, Justin Smith, Lizmarie Maldonado, Ali Bigger, and Saraya Pleasant
all gave their time to conduct analysis, provide editing, and address miscellaneous
formatting requests. Steve Laux at Jones Edmunds and Associates provided excellent practical insight on multiple chapters. Photos and other case study information
were generously provided by Fred Doran at SAIC; Ramin Yazdani at Yolo County,
CA; Marco Ritzkowski at Hamburg University of Technology; Professor Matsufuji
of Fukuoka University in Japan; Scott Merry of the University of the Pacific; Jones
Edmunds and Associates, Gainesville, Florida; and Waste Management Inc.
A special acknowledgement must be given to the numerous collaborators,
researchers, and funding agencies that allowed for such significant development of
our understanding of sustainable landfilling and the benefits and challenges that
sustainable landfilling can provide. Much of the work presented in this book comes
as a result of funding from the Hinkley Center for Solid and Hazardous Waste
Management, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the New River
Solid Waste Association, the Alachua County Public Works Department, and the
Polk County Waste & Recycling Division.
Finally, the authors also wish to acknowledge each of their families for tolerating
the many long nights and early mornings spent developing this book.
vii
Contents
1
1
3
5
8
9
11
12
13
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15
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31
33
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Contents
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State of Practice.......................................................................................
4.1 The Evolution of Sustainable Landfill Research
and Application ................................................................................
4.2 Full-Scale Case Studies: North America .........................................
4.2.1 Delaware Solid Waste Authority..........................................
4.2.2 Alachua County Southwest Landfill ....................................
4.2.3 Yolo County Landfill ...........................................................
4.2.4 New River Regional Landfill ...............................................
4.2.5 Crow Wing County Landfill.................................................
4.2.6 Polk County North Central Landfill.....................................
4.2.7 Outer Loop Landfill .............................................................
4.3 International Experience ..................................................................
4.3.1 Europe ..................................................................................
4.3.2 Asia ......................................................................................
4.3.3 Australia ...............................................................................
References .................................................................................................
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Contents
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Contents
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Contents
15
Operations ...............................................................................................
15.1 Importance of Operations ..............................................................
15.2 Operator Duties and Expectations .................................................
15.3 The Operations Plan.......................................................................
15.4 Construction, Oversight, and Recordkeeping ................................
15.5 Liquids Addition Operation and Monitoring .................................
15.5.1 Liquids Addition Operation .............................................
15.5.2 Tracking the Liquid Balance ............................................
15.5.3 Inspection .........................................................................
15.6 Gas and Air System Operation and Monitoring ............................
15.7 Monitoring System Performance ...................................................
References .................................................................................................
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Contents
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18
Economics ................................................................................................
18.1 Overview ........................................................................................
18.2 Fundamentals of Landfill Economics ............................................
18.2.1 Cost Elements ..................................................................
18.2.2 Revenue Sources ..............................................................
18.2.3 Financial Assurance .........................................................
18.2.4 Economy of Scale ............................................................
18.3 Costs and Benefits of Sustainable Landfill Practices .....................
18.3.1 Liquids Management .......................................................
18.3.2 Gas Management .............................................................
18.3.3 Air Space Recovery .........................................................
18.3.4 Social Costs......................................................................
18.4 Costs and Benefits After Landfill Closure .....................................
18.4.1 Post Closure Care Costs ...................................................
18.4.2 Landfill Reclamation........................................................
References .................................................................................................
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19
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448
448
450
451
454
457
460
ACSWL
BMP
BOD
BTU
C&D
CDM
CFR
CHP
COD
CPT
CPVC
CSWMC
DI
DO
DOE
DPT
DSWA
EIA
EGC
ERT
ET
EU
FEMA
FID
FOS
FTIR
GCCS
GHG
GCL
GPS
HDPE
xviii
HELP
HIL
HIT
HOL
IPCC
ITRC
LCA
LCI
LCRS
LFG
LLDPE
LMOP
LRF
MBT
MC
MSW
MSW-DST
MTG
NESHAP
NMOC
NRRL
NRSWA
O&M
Open-Path FTIR
ORP
PCC
PCNCLF
PGTT
PID
POTW
PVC
PW
RCRA
RD&D
RFM
RO
SCADA
SPT
SSI
TKN
TDR
TDS
TEPC
TOC
TOUGH
UCL
USACE
USEPA
USGS
VFA
WRATE
WTE
Units
ft
kPa
lpm
m
SCFM
xix
Foot/feet
Kilopascal
Liter per minute
Meter
Standard cubic feet per minute