Full-Scale Field Research and Demonstration of Septage Bioreactor Landfill Technology
Publication: Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste
Volume 17, Issue 4
Abstract
A septage bioreactor landfill was constructed and operated at a publicly owned landfill in the U.S. state of Michigan. Residential septage was processed onsite and injected into municipal solid waste (MSW) using subsurface injection lines (for supernatant) and surface infiltration pits (for sludge) to accelerate the solid waste-decomposition process. For comparison, a leachate bioreactor landfill was also constructed and operated onsite. By comparing the system performance from both bioreactors, the impact of septage addition was identified. Extensive datasets consisting of parameters such as waste temperature, waste-moisture content, leachate quality, landfill gas generation, and waste settlement were systematically evaluated. The waste temperature in both bioreactors was in accordance with a similar trend. Using leachate addition, the waste-moisture content in the leachate bioreactor was controlled to maintain similar moisture content as the septage bioreactor. Using a first-order decay model, the gas-generation rate coefficients (first-order decay coefficient) were estimated at 0.296 and for the septage bioreactor and leachate bioreactor landfills, respectively. This project demonstrated that waste-decomposition rate can be accelerated by septage addition and septage can be processed and treated in the septage bioreactor safely and effectively.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste
Volume 17 • Issue 4 • October 2013
Pages: 295 - 306
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 23, 2012
Accepted: Jul 18, 2012
Published online: Sep 16, 2013
Published in print: Oct 1, 2013
Discussion open until: Feb 16, 2014
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