Effect of an Electronic Water Treatment System on Calcium Carbonate Scaling: A Case Study

Clogging of leachate collection systems can cause catastrophic failures in landfill operation. The primary cause of clogging is calcium carbonate precipitation and formation of clog particles inside the pipe around a nucleus of silt, sand, and other particles, although the trigger mechanism is not known. This study focuses on quantifying the effectiveness of electronic scale control to reduce the clog formation within the pipe network. A field scale model (40 × 20ft) was constructed, featuring side-by-side flow of composite leachate treated electronically in one side and untreated leachate flow in the other side. Preliminary tests suggest that electronic scale control system does not have any statistically significant effect on water quality parameters. Therefore, long term leachate circulation tests using our field scale model to collect solids in the y-strainers and spool pieces will allow the researchers to quantify the amount of solids captured and compare the crystalline structures using XRD/XRF analysis, using pure crystal spectra of calcite and aragonite as a reference.