Leachate Recirculation Using Permeable Blankets in Engineered Landfills
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 133, Issue 4
Abstract
Subsurface leachate recirculation or liquid injection methods for municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills are horizontal trenches, vertical wells, and permeable blankets. In this study, results of field-scale testing and numerical modeling of a recently developed subsurface leachate recirculation system called permeable blankets have been presented. In the field, at a MSW landfill located in Michigan, the travel of injected leachate in a 60-m-wide by 9-m-long by 0.15-m-deep blanket made up of crushed recycled glass was measured using an automated sensing system consisting of sensors embedded in the blanket. Leachate injection rates used in the field and simulated in this study ranged from 1.1 to per meter length of the injection pipe embedded in the permeable blanket. HYDRUS-2D was used to simulate the travel and pressure head of injected leachate in permeable blankets. The influence of the following parameters on the hydraulic performance of permeable blankets was evaluated: (1) hydraulic properties of permeable blanket and waste; (2) geometry of permeable blanket; (3) settlement of permeable blanket; (4) leachate dosing frequency; and (5) initial degrees of saturation of permeable blanket and waste. The key findings of the study are: (1) the rate and maximum distance of travel of injected leachate are a strong function of the relative hydraulic properties of the permeable blanket and underlying waste and the rate and frequency of leachate injection; and (2) the maximum pressure head in the blanket due to liquid injection does not exceed the injection pressure. The field data and the numerical modeling results indicated that permeable blankets can be designed to inject liquids or recirculate leachate in MSW landfills. Long-term performance of such blankets needs to be evaluated.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The project has been jointly funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) (Grant No. CMS – NSF0510091), Environmental Research and Education Foundation (EREF), and Waste Management Inc. (WMI). The writers sincerely appreciate the financial support from the sponsors. The writers are grateful to Dr. Jirka Simunek for his input related to running the computer model HYDRUS-2D. The results and opinions expressed in this manuscript are those of the writers and are not necessarily consistent with policies or opinions of NSF, EREF, or WMI.
References
Bleiker, D. E., McBean, E., and Farquhar, G. (1993). “Refuse sampling and permeability testing at the Brock West and Keele Valley landfills.” Proc., 16th Int. Madison Waste Conference, Madison, Wisc., 548–567.
Fungaroli, A., and Steiner, R. (1979). “Investigation of sanitary landfill behavior.” Final Rep. U.S. EPA 600/2-79-053a, Vol. 1.
Giroud, J., and Houlihan, M. (1995). “Design of leachate collection layers.” Proc., 5th Sardinia Solid Waste Conf., Cagliary, Italy, 613–640.
Haydar, M. (2005). “Leachate recirculation in bioreactor landfills: Field-scale testing and modeling.” Ph.D. dissertation, Michigan State Univ., E. Lansing, Mich.
Haydar, M. M., and Khire, M. V. (2004). “Field-scale testing of leachate recirculation blanket made up of scrap tires.” Proc., 19th Int. Conf. on Solid Waste Technology and Management, Philadelphia.
Haydar, M. M., and Khire, M. V. (2005a). “Evaluation of anisotropy and heterogeneity of waste hydraulic conductivity on leachate recirculation in MSW landfills.” J. Solid Waste Technol. Manage., 30(4), 233–243.
Haydar, M. M., and Khire, M. V. (2005b). “Leachate recirculation using horizontal trenches in bioreactor landfills.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 131(7), 837–847.
Haydar, M. M., and Khire, M. V. (2006). “Geotechnical sensor system to monitor migration of injected leachate in municipal solid waste landfills.” Geotech. Test. J., 29(1), 1–8.
Henry, E. J., Smith, J. E., and Warrick, A. W. (2002). “Two-dimensional modeling of flow and transport in the vadose zone with surfactant-induced flow.” Water Resour. Res., 38(11), 3310–3316.
Hughes, G., Landon, R., and Farrolden, R. (1971). “Hydrogeology of waste disposal sites in northeastern Illinois.” EPA Solid Waste Management Series, SW-12d, Washington, D.C.
Khire, M. V., and Haydar, M. M. (2003). “Numerical evaluation of granular blankets for leachate recirculation in MSW landfills.” Proc., 9th Sardinia Solid Waste Conf., Cagliary, Italy.
Khire, M. V., and Haydar, M. M. (2005). “Leachate recirculation using geocomposite drainage layer in engineered MSW landfills.” Proc., GeoFrontiers 2005, ASCE, Reston, Va.
Khire, M., and Mukherjee, M. (2006). “Leachate injection using vertical wells in engineered landfills.” Waste Manage., Elsevier, in press.
Korfiatis, G., Demetracopoulos, A., Bourodimos, E., and Nawy, E. (1984). “Moisture transport in a solid waste column.” J. Environ. Eng., ASCE, 110(4), 780–796.
Maier, T., and Vasuki, N. (1997). “Expected benefits of a full-scale bioreactor landfill. A compilation of current readings: Leachate recirculation and landfill bioreactors.” Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA).
McCreanor, P. (1998). “Landfill leachate recirculation systems: Mathematical modeling and validation.” Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of Central Florida, Orlando, Fla.
Miller, D., and Emge, S. (1997). “Enhancing landfill leachate recirculation system performance.” Pract. Period. Hazard. Toxic Radioact. Waste Manage., 1(3), 113–119.
Mualem, Y. (1976). “A new model for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated porous media.” Water Resour. Res., 12, 513–522.
Oweis, I., Smith, D., Ellwood, R., and Greene, D. (1990). “Hydraulic characteristics of municipal refuse.” J. Geotech. Engrg., 116(4), 539–553.
Pang, L., Close, M., Watt, J., and Vincent, K. (2000). “Simulation of picloram, atrazine, and simazine leaching through two New Zealand soils and into groundwater using HYDRUS-2D.” J. Contam. Hydrol., 44(1), 19–46.
Pohland, F., and Kim, J. (1999). “In situ aerobic treatment of leachate in landfill bioreactors.” Water Sci. Technol., 40, 203–210.
Qian, X., Koerner, R., and Gray, D. (2002). Geotechnical aspects of landfill design and construction, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
Rassam, D., and Cook, F. (2002). “Numerical simulations of water flow and solute transport applied to acid sulfate soils.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., 128(2), 107–115.
Reinhart, D., and Al-Yousfi, B. (1996). “The impact of leachate recirculation on municipal solid waste landfill operating characteristics.” Waste Manage. Res., 14, 337–346.
Reinhart, D., and Townsend, T. (1998). Landfill bioreactor design and operation, Lewis, Boca Raton, Fla.
Simunek, J., Sejna, M., and Van Genuchten, M. (1999). The HYDRUS-2D software package for simulating the 2-D movement of water, heat, and multiple solutes in variably saturated media version 2.0, U.S. Salinity Laboratory, Agriculture Research Service, USDA, Riverside, Calif.
Scanlon, B., Christman, M., Reedy, R., Porro, I., Simunek, J., and Flerchinger, G. (2002). “Intercode comparisons for simulating water balance of surficial sediments in semiarid regions.” Water Resour. Res., 38(12), 5901–5915.
Sowers, G. (1972). “Settlement of waste disposal fills.” Proc., 8th Int. Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Moscow, 207–210.
van Genuchten, M. Th. (1980). “A closed-form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils.” Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 44, 892–898.
Wall, D. K., and Zeiss, C. (1995). “Municipal landfill biodegradation and settlement.” J. Environ. Eng., 121(3), 214–224.
Zeiss, C., and Ugguccioni, M. (1995). “Mechanisms and patterns of leachate flow in municipal solid waste landfills.” J. Environ. Sys., 23(3), 247–270.
Zhao, X., Maher, S., Khire, M., Musleh, R., Voice, T., and Hashsham, S. (2004). “Field-scale landfill bioreactor demonstration.” Proc., SWANA Landfill Symp., Monterey, Calif.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 133 • Issue 4 • April 2007
Pages: 360 - 371
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Jul 13, 2005
Accepted: Jul 27, 2006
Published online: Apr 1, 2007
Published in print: Apr 2007
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.