Performance of North American Bioreactor Landfills. II: Chemical and Biological Characteristics
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Volume 136, Issue 8
Abstract
The objective of this research was to examine the performance of five North American bioreactor landfills. This paper represents the second of a two-part series and addresses biological and chemical aspects of bioreactor performance including gas production and management, and leachate chemistry. The data support accelerated methane generation at several landfills relative to the AP-42 default decay rate . While the data indicate that gas collection increases at bioreactor landfills, a general relationship between decay rate and moisture added or wet weight water content could not be identified. There was no indication that gas collection increases appreciably when the water content reaches 40%. Most of the leachates at the landfills in this study were commingled from cells operating as a bioreactor and conventionally. Nevertheless, trends in pH and BOD:COD in the bioreactor leachates were consistent with the impacts of enhanced biological activity. Ammonia concentrations also increased over time but remained below levels reported to be inhibitory. For both heavy metals and speciated organic chemicals, there was no indication that bioreactor landfill leachate is significantly different from leachate generated at conventional landfills.
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Acknowledgments
Financial support for this study was provided by the U.S. EPA through the Office of Research and Development’s National Risk Management Research Laboratory. Participation by the public sector landfill authorities, Veolia Environmental Services, and Waste Management was critical to the success of this project. Douglas Mandeville, formerly of Geosyntec Consultants, also provided a significant amount of support for the study. The writers are grateful for all of the input and support provided. The findings in this report are solely those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the policies or opinions of U.S. EPA or others who participated in the study.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 136 • Issue 8 • August 2010
Pages: 839 - 853
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Mar 9, 2009
Accepted: Dec 29, 2009
Published online: Jul 15, 2010
Published in print: Aug 2010
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