Environmental Engineering

5ME – A
Step 5

Doctora, Jose Ruben Jr. G.

Dungo, Arnel Christian C.
Santos, Gabriel R.
Yu, Sonia D.
 Waste Disposal, Treatment, and Management system Involving the Philippines
I. Recycling
- Considering the Republic Act 9003 - Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of
2000, Recycling programs for the recyclable materials, such as but not limited to
glass, paper, plastic and metal are needed. Recycling is the process where
collected waste products will be converted into new useful products. Recycling is
done to reduce the use of raw materials and energy usage that would have been
used. Also, it can reduce air and water pollution, reduce the volume of waste
products that will be dumped into the landfills, and reduce gas emissions which
may damage the natural resources that may be used in the future.
Types of Recycling
1. Mechanical Recycling

A. Re-melted to make new products

PET bottles from sorted household waste are collected, compressed and
packed by municipalities for transportation to plants operated by recycling
businesses. At the recycling plant, the waste is sorted to remove impurities, and
 the remaining PET bottles then shredded and cleaned, foreign bodies and non-
resins are removed and the remainder turned into flakes and pellets (made from
flakes, thermally processed by an extruder) for recycling. The recycled materials
are then sent to textile and sheet-making plants, where they are again melted down
to make into textile and sheet products. Mechanical recycling of other plastic waste
follows the same basic process.

B. Resin Molding Techniques

a. Extrusion molding
- Resin is melted and continually extruded through a mold by a screw to form a
molded product. Products include pipes, sheets, film and wire covering
b. Injection molding
- Heated melted resin is injected into a mold and solidifies to form a molded
product. Products made this way range from washbowls, buckets and plastic
models to larger products such as bumpers and pliers.
c. Blow molding
- A parison obtained by extrusion or injection molding is clamped into a mold and
inflated with air to make bottles for all kinds of uses, such as shampoo bottles.
PET bottles are made by stretch blow molding so as to make them less likely
to rupture.
d. Vacuum molding
- A heat-softened sheet is sandwiched in a mold and the space between the
sheet and mold sealed and evacuated to form products such as cups and trays.
e. Inflation molding
- This is a type of extrusion molding where a melted resin is inflated into a
cylinder to form a film. This method is used to make products such as shopping
bags.
C. Monomerization

While PET bottles can be recycled to make textiles and sheeting, they cannot
be used to make PET drinks bottles. This is because used PET bottles are unsuitable
for use as raw materials for soft drink, alcohol or soy sauce bottles for reasons of
hygiene and smell. However, converting PET bottles back to an earlier state of
processing is a more economic use of resources than making PET resin from scratch
out of petroleum and naphtha. A “bottle to bottle” scheme to make recycled resin
equivalent to newly made resin suitable for drinks bottles started in 2003 on this basis.

The method chemically decomposes the used PET bottles into their component
monomers (de-polymerization), and they are made into new PET bottles from this
stage.

Teijin Ltd. already uses its own proprietary decomposition method, combining
ethylene glycol (EG) and methanol to break waste PET resin down into DMT (dimethyl
terephthalate) to turn it the raw material used to make textiles and film. This technique
was improved upon to break PET bottles down further from DMT to PTA (purified
terephtalic acid) to make PET resin, and Teijin Fiber Ltd. commenced operation of a
facility with the capacity to process around 62 kt (*kt＝ thousand tons) a year in 2003.
The resin produced was judged suitable for use in food containers by the Japanese
Food Safety Commission in 2004, and bottle-to-bottle production started in April with
the approval of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

Aies Co., Ltd. has also developed a technique for manufacturing resin by
breaking it down into high-purity BHET (bis hydroxyethyl-terephthalate) monomer
using a new method of de-polymerization using EG. It established a new company,
PET Reveres Co., Ltd. in 2004 which can process around 27.5 kt per year. However,
a shortage in raw materials due to a dramatic increase in the export of waste PET
bottles gave Teijin Fiber no alternative but to withdraw from bottle-to-bottle production.
PET Reverse, meanwhile, has had to undergo a restructuring, and their bottle-to-bottle
business is being carried on by PET Refine Technology Co., Ltd., a member of the
Toyo Seikan Co., Ltd. group.

D. Blast Furnace Feedstock Recycling

At steel mills, iron ore, coke and auxiliary raw materials are fed into a blast furnace
and the iron ore melted to produce pig iron. Coke is used as fuel to elevate the
temperature in the furnace, and also acts as a reducing agent by removing the oxygen
from iron oxide, one of the main constituents of iron ore. As plastics are made from
petroleum and natural gas, their main constituents are carbon and hydrogen. This
means that it should be possible to devise a means of using them instead of coke as
a reducing agent in the blast furnace process.

The process by which plastics are used as a reducing agent is as follows. Plastic
waste collected from factories and households is cleansed of non-combustible matter
and other impurities such as metals, then finely pulverized and packed to reduce its
volume. Plastics that do not contain PVC are granulated, then fed into the blast
furnace with coke. Plastics that contain PVC are fed into the blast furnace after first
separating the hydrogen chloride at a high temperature of around 350°C in the
absence of oxygen, as the emission of hydrogen chloride can damage a furnace. The
hydrogen chloride thus extracted is recovered as hydrochloric acid and put to other
uses, such as acid scrubbing lines for hot rolling at steel mills.

This dehydrochlorination method was developed by the Plastic Waste

Management Institute (PWMI), Japan PVC Environmental Affairs Council, Vinyl
Environmental Council and JFE Steel Corporation (formerly NKK) at the request of
the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). JFE
Plastic Resource Corporation (founded in November 2005) has been applying this
process in full-scale operations.

E. Coke Oven Chemical Feedstock Recycling

Coke is made by baking coal, and the process also generates volatile
compounds which produce hydrocarbon oil and coke oven gas. However, coke,
 hydrocarbon oil and coke oven gas can also be produced from plastic waste.
Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation has developed facilities at most of its
steel mills to use plastic waste as cokes, chemical feedstock and fuel, and it is now
in use in its Nagoya, Kimitsu, Muroran, Yawata and Oita sites.
This system begins by crushing plastic waste obtained from local
governments and removing iron and other impurities and PVC. It then heats the
plastics to 100°C and forms it into granules, which are then mixed with crushed
and granulated coal at a ratio of 1–2% before being fed to the carbonization
chamber of the coke oven.
The carbonization chamber has combustion chambers on both sides which
heat the content indirectly. The plastic waste does not combust inside the chamber
due to lack of oxygen, but it is instead cracked thermally at a high temperature to
produce coke for use as the reducing agent in coke ovens, hydrocarbon oil.
This process results in 40% hydrocarbon oil for use as chemical feedstock,
20% coke for use as a blast-furnace reducing agent, and 40% coke oven gas for
generating power.

F. Gasification
 Plastics are composed mainly of carbon and hydrogen and therefore
normally produce carbon dioxide and water when combusted. The gasification
process involves heating plastics and adding a supply of oxygen and steam. The
supply of oxygen is limited, which means that much of the plastics turn into
hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide and water.
Sand heated to 600-800°C is circulated inside a first-stage low-temperature
gasification furnace. Plastics introduced into the furnace break down on contract
with the sand to form hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide, hydrogen and char. If the
plastics contain chlorine, they produce hydrogen chloride. If plastic products
contain metal or glass, these are recovered as noncombustible matter.
The gas from the low-temperature gasification furnace is reacted with steam
at a temperature of 1,300-1,500°C in a second-stage high-temperature gasification
furnace to produce a gas composed mainly of carbon monoxide and oxygen. At
the furnace outlet, the gas is rapidly cooled to 200°C or below to prevent the
formation of dioxins. The granulated blast furnace slag also produced is used in
civil engineering and construction materials.
The gas then passes through a gas scrubber and any remaining hydrogen
chloride is neutralized by alkalis and removed from the synthetic gas. This
synthetic gas is used as a raw material in the chemical industry to produce
chemicals such as hydrogen, methanol, ammonia and acetic acid. The Plastic
Waste Management Institute (PWMI) was commissioned by New Energy and
Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) to conduct trials of this
technology, which were performed with the cooperation of Ebara Corporation and
Ube Industries, Ltd. EUP Co., Ltd. had a plastic gasification plant in full operation
in Ube city in January 2001.
Although EUP began full operation of this gasification process in 2001,
difficulties in procuring raw plastic waste forced the company to withdraw from this
business in May 2010. Showa Denko K.K. opened a facility in Kawasaki in 2003
using the same technology.
Additionally, Japan Recycling Corporation Co., Ltd. implemented the JFE
Thermoselect process in 2000 with the aim of using plastic waste as clean fuel
gas. The same process was adopted in the form of a private financial initiative
(PFI) waste business by Mizushima Eco-works Co., Ltd in 2005 and by ORIX
Environmental Resources Management Corporation in 2006.
G. Liquefaction Process

Since the raw material used to produce plastics is petroleum, it should be

possible to return plastics to petroleum by reversing the production process.
Development of plasticwaste liquefaction technology for this purpose began in the
second half of the 1970s, and today, plastic-waste liquefaction is essentially an
established technology.
However, the process of returning plastic in a macromolecular state to a
low-molecular state is an endothermic reaction that requires energy. It requires, In
particular, extra energy for heating material up to temperatures of about 400°C
(which means that some of the generated oil must be consumed as fuel or that
electric power must be purchased to perform such heating). In addition, the
process product in crude-oil form must again be cracked and refined to obtain
commercial products, and facilities for this purpose are essential. At the same time,
there is always risk of ignition or explosion in the liquefaction process and
countermeasures to that risk must be taken. For the above reasons, many large-
scale liquefaction facilities could not achieve profitability and were forced to
withdraw from the business before the second half of the 2000s.
Sapporo Plastic Recycling Co., Ltd. had been working to establish a
liquefaction business with large-scale facilities, but they withdrew from the
business in 2010.
The research and development of plastic-waste liquefaction technology has
had some achievements, but many issues remain, such as how to achieve a scale
of business that is commercially viable and how to reduce costs. At present, any
new ventures in the liquefaction business face difficult conditions. The above
problems and issues must be thoroughly studied by any enterprise looking to adopt
this technology.
H. Thermal Recycling
 Waste plastics are currently collected and processed differently by different
municipalities, but the Ministry of the Environment is unifying the previously
separate categories of waste into one (“burnable”), with an amendment to the
Waste Disposal Law on May 2005 which changes its basic policy to state that “first,
emission of waste plastic should be reduced, after which recycling should be
promoted; any remaining waste plastic should not go to landfill as it is suitable for
use in thermal recovery”. In a similar move, the Tokyo municipal area, which had
since 1973 been putting household waste plastics into landfill as non-burnable
garbage, set a goal in 2008 of sending zero household waste plastic to landfill and
instead using it for incineration and thermal recycling by default.
As a result, data on the effective use of heat energy for FY 2014 as
recorded by the Clean Association of TOKYO23 showed that total generated
power came to 1,130 million kWh, electricity sold came to 590 million kWh, and
supplied heat (fee-based) came to 526,000 gigajoule(GJ) , the income of electricity
and heat sold came to 10.6 billion yen.
Thermal recycling encompasses liquefaction, gasification and solid fuel
(RPF, etc.), which are all recognized under the Container and Packaging Recycling
Law, but also waste power generation, conversion to cement kiln fuel and solid
fuel made from waste (RDF).
Typical waste incineration systems in use today include stoker incinerators,
fluidized-bed incinerators, and gasification melting furnaces.
A stoker incinerator burns refuse while transporting it along a stoker. It
consists of a drying section for evaporating moisture in the refuse, a combustion
section for vigorously burning the refuse, and a post-combustion section to fully
burn the refuse. A fluidized-bed incinerator, on the other hand, burns refuse by
adding it to heated sand that swirls about much like boiling water by air forced in
from below. A gasification melting furnace, meanwhile, decomposes refuse into
gas at high temperatures and recovers the resulting pyrolysis gas and char for use
as fuel to drive a steam turbine and generate electricity. The char is melted into
slug at this time. In any of the above systems, the heat and exhaust gas generated
by incinerating refuse can be used as new sources of energy.
 Refuse can also be effectively used as a raw material for cement kilns
thanks to its high calorific value and good combustibility. The demand for refuse
paper and plastic fuel (RPF)—a mixture of plastic waste and used paper—has also
been growing among pulp manufacturers as an alternative fuel to oil.

II. Industrial Wastewater Treatment

- Considering the Republic Act No. 6969 - Toxic Substances and Hazardous and
Nuclear Wastes Control Act of 1990, it provides penalties for violations in the
policy of the State to regulate, restrict or prohibit the disposal of chemical
substances and mixtures that present unreasonable risk and/or injury to health
or the environment. Organic Chemical manufacturing such as plastics
discharges pollutants such as benzene, chloroform, naphthalene, phenols,
toluene and vinyl chloride. Metal pollutant discharges may include chromium,
copper, lead, nickel and zinc. A wastewater treatment plant can consist of the
following four stages: (1) neutralization, (2) flocculation and precipitation, (3)
settling, and (4) centrifugation of sludge. The detoxification of cyanide can be
carried out either by a stripping process or by oxidation with chlorine. CS2 is
combined with aged alkali cellulose to form sodium cellulose xanthate. After
this reaction, the sodium cellulose xanthate is combined with liquid caustic and
water in a coagulation bath. In order to control the sodium sulfate levels of the
coagulation bath, water is continuously drained from this process step.
Because the sodium cellulose xanthate contains some CS2 from previous
process steps, CS2 is discharged with the wastewater. Preliminary Study of
Regenerated Cellulose Manufacturers 12 Any wastewater overflow from the
viscose solution steps also contains CS2 discharges. At this time, EPA is
unable to determine what causes overflow from the viscose solution steps or
the amount of wastewater that results from process overflow. At one facility,
CS2 used in the viscose process is recovered through condensation. The
facility uses steam to condense the CS2, which is ultimately sent to the
recovery plant. The CS2 not captured from condensation is oil-scrubbed and
recovered. Because some CS2 is soluble in water, the steam condensate may
contain CS2. The steam condensate is sent to the facility’s wastewater
treatment plant. The plant uses an activated sludge extended aeration process
to treat the wastewater. The acid waste stream is first neutralized using
hydrated lime in settling pond #1. The neutralized acid stream is then
commingled with the alkaline and neutral waste streams in settling pond #2.
The combined waste stream is pumped to the equalization basin. As the waste
stream is pumped from the equalization basin to the activated sludge aeration
basin, the plant adds phosphoric acid and ammonium hydroxide to provide
supplemental nutrients for biological treatment. The excess activated sludge is
settled in clarifiers, and the treated effluent is discharged to the river through a
long outfall sewer. The sludge is concentrated by a centrifuge and land applied.
 - Considering Republic Act No. 9275 - Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004, it
provides a comprehensive water quality management, and pursue for
sustainable development framework. Wastewater treatment is a process to
convert wastewater – which is water no longer needed or suitable for its most
recent use – into an effluent that can be either returned to the water cycle with
minimal environmental issues or reused. The latter is called water reclamation
and implies avoidance of disposal by use of treated wastewater effluent for
various purposes
Step by Step Wastewater Treatment
1. Wastewater Collection
This is the first step in waste water treatment process. Collection systems are put in
place by municipal administration, home owners as well as business owners to ensure
that all the wastewater is collected and directed to a central point. This water is then
directed to a treatment plant using underground drainage systems or by exhauster
tracks owned and operated by business people. The transportation of wastewater
should however be done under hygienic conditions. The pipes or tracks should be leak
proof and the people offering the exhausting services should wear protective clothing.
2. Odor Control
At the treatment plant, odor control is very important. Wastewater contains a lot of dirty
substances that cause a foul smell over time. To ensure that the surrounding areas are
free of the foul smell, odor treatment processes are initiated at the treatment plant. All
odor sources are contained and treated using chemicals to neutralize the foul smell
producing elements. It is the first wastewater treatment plant process and it’s very
important.
3. Screening
This is the next step in wastewater treatment process. Screening involves the removal
of large objects for example nappies, cotton buds, plastics, diapers, rags, sanitary
items, nappies, face wipes, broken bottles or bottle tops that in one way or another may
damage the equipment. Failure to observe this step, results in constant machine and
equipment problems. Specially designed equipment is used to get rid of grit that is
usually washed down into the sewer lines by rainwater. The solid wastes removed from
the wastewater are then transported and disposed off in landfills.
4. Primary Treatment
This process involves the separation of macrobiotic solid matter from the wastewater.
Primary treatment is done by pouring the wastewater into big tanks for the solid matter
to settle at the surface of the tanks. The sludge, the solid waste that settles at the
surface of the tanks, is removed by large scrappers and is pushed to the center of the
cylindrical tanks and later pumped out of the tanks for further treatment. The remaining
water is then pumped for secondary treatment.
5. Secondary Treatment
Also known as the activated sludge process, the secondary treatment stage involves
adding seed sludge to the wastewater to ensure that is broken down further. Air is first
pumped into huge aeration tanks which mix the wastewater with the seed sludge which
is basically small amount of sludge, which fuels the growth of bacteria that uses oxygen
and the growth of other small microorganisms that consume the remaining organic
matter. This process leads to the production of large particles that settle down at the
bottom of the huge tanks. The wastewater passes through the large tanks for a period
of 3-6 hours.
6. Bio-solids handling
The solid matter that settle out after the primary and secondary treatment stages are
directed to digesters. The digesters are heated at room temperature. The solid wastes
are then treated for a month where they undergo anaerobic digestion. During this
process, methane gases are produced and there is a formation of nutrient rich bio-solids
which are recycled and dewatered into local firms. The methane gas formed is usually
used as a source of energy at the treatment plants. It can be used to produce electricity
in engines or to simply drive plant equipment. This gas can also be used in boilers to
generate heat for digesters.
7. Tertiary treatment
This stage is similar to the one used by drinking water treatment plants which clean raw
water for drinking purposes. The tertiary treatment stage has the ability to remove up to
99 percent of the impurities from the wastewater. This produces effluent water that is
close to drinking water quality. Unfortunately, this process tends to be a bit expensive
as it requires special equipment, well trained and highly skilled equipment operators,
chemicals and a steady energy supply. All these are not readily available.
8. Disinfection
After the primary treatment stage and the secondary treatment process, there are still
some diseases causing organisms in the remaining treated wastewater. To eliminate
them, the wastewater must be disinfected for at least 20-25 minutes in tanks that
contain a mixture of chlorine and sodium hypochlorite. The disinfection process is an
integral part of the treatment process because it guards the health of the animals and
the local people who use the water for other purposes. The effluent (treated waste
water) is later released into the environment through the local water ways.
9. Sludge Treatment
The sludge that is produced and collected during the primary and secondary treatment
processes requires concentration and thickening to enable further processing. It is put
into thickening tanks that allow it to settle down and later separates from the water. This
process can take up to 24 hours. The remaining water is collected and sent back to the
huge aeration tanks for further treatment. The sludge is then treated and sent back into
the environment and can be used for agricultural use.

III. Air Pollution Control

- Considering the Republic Act No. 8749 - Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999,
Incineration should not be considered as a method for waste disposal in the
Philippines due to its affect in the environment. In addition, air filter should be
installed to prevent toxic substances in air harms the environment.
a. Ban on Incineration. Incineration, also called as thermal treatment, involves
the combustion of organic wastes. It is the method where wastes collected
will be burned at extreme temperatures in the incinerators to convert solid
wastes into ash and gaseous products. This method is advantageous due
to the fact that it reduces the volume of solid wastes by up to 20 to 30
percent the original volume, which leads to lesser space taken and reduced
stress in our landfills. It is widely used in countries where landfill space can
no longer be accommodated, like Japan.
b. Air Filter, used for removing solid particulates such as dust, pollen, etc., is
a device composed of fibrous and porous material. It is designed,
fabricated, and installed in the machines to reduce toxic contaminants
released from the air. The purpose of air filters is to provide human comfort,
which results to improved health, protecting people from inhaling toxic air,
and also improves production processes. Air filters are widely used in
applications where air quality is significant, particularly in ventilating
systems of buildings, power plants, engine, etc.
c. Air Pollution Control. EPA promulgated a NESHAP for Cellulose Products
Manufacturing (40 CFR Part 63, Subpart UUUU, 67 FR 40055). The
Cellulose Products Manufacturing NESHAP regulates the Miscellaneous
Viscose Processes and Cellulose Ethers Production Categories. The
 Miscellaneous Viscose Process category includes cellulose food casings,
rayon, cellulosic sponge, and cellophane manufacturing facilities. The
NESHAP established emissions limits for hazardous air pollutants (HAPs),
such as CS2, carbonyl sulfide, ethylene oxide, methanol, methyl chloride,
propylene oxide, and toluene. The resulting additional air pollution control
may be transferring more CS2 to the water via scrubbers (U.S. EPA, 2006).
Gaseous by-products formed during the regeneration of cellulose, including
hydrogen sulfide and CS2, are off-gassed from the process equipment.
Facilities control emissions of these toxic gases using either a wet gas
scrubber, a direct-contact condenser, or a biofilter system. In a wet gas
scrubber, the air pollutants are absorbed by an aqueous solution. The wet
scrubber removal efficiency for CS2 varies depending on facility specific
operations. For example, some systems can remove up to 65 percent of
CS2 prior to the stack. The majority of the scrubbed CS2 is either recovered
or sent to wastewater treatment as scrubber effluent wastewater. At other
facilities, CS2 removal is low but the scrubber effluent wastewater may
contain some CS2. In direct-contact condensers, water vapors are
condensed out of the vent stream. The condensed water is sent to the
wastewater treatment system. The remaining CS2 vapors are pulled by a
vacuum jet to a second direct-contact condenser. The CS2 condenses
because of the decrease in temperature and is sent to a settling tank with
other process by-products. The condensed CS2 is piped underground to
the storage tanks in the water containment pool. The CS2 emission
reduction for these condenser systems is 99 percent. Biofilters are also
used as air pollution control at cellulose products manufacturing facilities.
Each biofilter (bed) has a plenum at the bottom (air space), a midsection
that contains grating and media that contain microbes, and a cover on top.
The gases enter the bottom of the bed and exit from the top. The removal
efficiency of the biofilter varies based on process conditions; however,
normal CS2 reductions across the bed are approximately 80 percent.
Wastewater from the biofilter, which may contain some CS2, is sent to
wastewater treatment facilities. The spent media from the biofilter are
neutralized with lime and hauled offsite.

IV. Minimizes Land Filling through emphasizing the waste segregation and
3R
- Considering the Republic Act No. 9512 - National Environmental Awareness and
Education Act of 2008, Presidential Decree No. 1151 - Philippine Environmental
Policy and Presidential Decree No. 1586 - Establishing An Environmental Impact
Statement System, Including Other Environmental Management Related
Measures And For Other Purposes. It is an act to promote environmental
awareness through environmental education.
 a. Waste segregation, also known as waste sorting, is the method where waste is
separated into different categories. It can be divided into dry and wet,
biodegradable and non-biodegradable, depending on the composition of the
material, etc. This method can occur easily in a small group such as in our
households and can be collected by the authorities. Also, it can be done in a large
scale where you have facilities and treatment systems to separate the wastes.
b. Promotion of Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. The main objective of the 3R
process in Asia is to integrate 3Rs and resource efficiency in the overall policy,
planning and development, by sensitizing the local and national governments,
private sector, industry and business groups (including SMEs), and civil society, in
order to contribute the Outcome of Rio+20 – The Future We Want, 3Rs and
resource efficiency are promoted as the basis for sustainable waste management.
c. Land Filling. It is a carefully designed structure built into or on top of the ground
in which trash is isolated from the surrounding environment (groundwater, air,
rain). This isolation is accomplished with a bottom liner and daily covering of soil.
A sanitary landfill uses a clay liner to isolate the trash from the environment.
A municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill uses a synthetic (plastic) liner to isolate the
trash from the environment.

PARTS OF LANDFILL
A. Bottom Liner System

A landfill's major purpose and one of its biggest challenges is to contain the
trash so that the trash doesn't cause problems in the environment. The bottom liner
prevents the trash from coming in contact with the outside soil, particularly the
groundwater. In MSW landfills, the liner is usually some type of durable, puncture-
resistant synthetic plastic (polyethylene, high-density polyethylene, polyvinylchloride).
It is usually 30-100 mils thick. The plastic liner may be also be combined with
compacted clay soils as an additional liner. The plastic liner may also be surrounded
on either side by a fabric mat (geotextile mat) that will help to keep the plastic liner
from tearing or puncturing from the nearby rock and gravel layers.

B. Cells (Old and New)

Perhaps, the most precious commodity and overriding problem in a landfill is

air space. The amount of space is directly related to the capacity and usable life of the
landfill. If you can increase the air space, then you can extend the usable life of the
landfill. To do this, trash is compacted into areas, called cells, that contain only one
day's trash. In the North Wake County Landfill, a cell is approximately 50 feet long by
50 feet wide by 14 feet high (15.25m x 15.25m x 4.26m). The amount of trash within
the cell is 2,500 tons and is compressed at 1,500 pounds per cubic yard! This
compression is done by heavy equipment (tractors, bulldozers, rollers and graders)
that go over the mound of trash several times). Once the cell is made, it is covered
with six inches of soil and compacted further. Cells are arranged in rows and layers of
adjoining cells (lifts).

In addition to compressing the trash into cells, space is conserved by excluding

bulky materials, such as carpets, mattresses, foam and yard waste, from the landfill.

C. Storm Water Drainage

It is important to keep the landfill as dry as possible to reduce the amount of

leachate. This can be done in two ways:
 Exclude liquids from the solid waste. Solid waste must be tested for liquids
before entering the landfill. This is done by passing samples of the waste
through standard paint filters. If no liquid comes through the sample after 10
minutes, then the trash is accepted into the landfill.
 Keep rainwater out of the landfill. To exclude rainwater, the landfill has a storm
drainage system. Plastic drainage pipes and storm liners collect water from
areas of the landfill and channel it to drainage ditches surrounding the landfill's
base.
The ditches are either concrete or gravel-lined and carry water to collection
ponds to the side of the landfill. In the collection ponds, suspended soil particles are
allowed to settle and the water is tested for leachate chemicals. Once settling has
occurred and the water has passed tests, it is then pumped or allowed to flow off-site.

D. Leachate Collection System

No system to exclude water from the landfill is perfect and water does get into
the landfill. The water percolates through the cells and soil in the landfill much as water
percolates through ground coffee in a drip coffee maker. As the water percolates
through the trash, it picks up contaminants (organic and inorganic chemicals, metals,
biological waste products of decomposition) just as water picks up coffee in the coffee
maker. This water with the dissolved contaminants is called leachate and is typically
acidic.

To collect leachate, perforated pipes run throughout the landfill (Figure 3).
These pipes then drain into a leachate pipe, which carries leachate to a leachate
collection pond. Leachate can be pumped to the collection pond or flow to it by gravity,
as it does in the North Wake County Landfill.

The leachate in the pond is tested for acceptable levels of various chemicals
(biological and chemical oxygen demands, organic chemicals, pH, calcium,
magnesium, iron, sulfate and chloride) and allowed to settle. After testing, the leachate
must be treated like any other sewage/wastewater; the treatment may occur on-site
or off-site. At the North Wake County Landfill, leachate is released to the wastewater
treatment plant in Raleigh, where it is treated and released into the Neuse River. Some
landfills recirculate the leachate and later treat it. This method reduces the volume of
leachate from the landfill, but increases the concentrations of contaminants in the
leachate.

E. Methane Collection System

Bacteria in the landfill break down the trash in the absence of

oxygen (anaerobic) because the landfill is airtight. A byproduct of this anaerobic
breakdown is landfill gas, which contains approximately 50 percent methane and 50
percent carbon dioxide with small amounts of nitrogen and oxygen. This presents a
hazard because the methane can explode and/or burn. So, the landfill gas must be
removed. To do this, a series of pipes are embedded within the landfill to collect the
gas. In some landfills, this gas is vented or burned.

More recently, it has been recognized that this landfill gas represents a usable
energy source. The methane can be extracted from the gas and used as fuel. In the
North Wake County Landfill, a company collects the landfill gas, extracts the methane,
and sells it to a nearby chemical company to power its boilers. The extraction system
is a split system, meaning that methane gas can go to the boilers and/or the methane
flares that burn the gas. The reason for the split system is that the landfill will increase
its gas production over time (from 300 cubic feet per minute to 1,250 cubic feet per
minute) and exceed the capacity of the boilers at the chemical company. Therefore,
the excess gas will have to be burned. It is not cost-effective to compress the excess
gas to liquid and sell it.

F. Covering or Cap

As mentioned above, each cell is covered daily with six inches of compacted
soil. This covering seals the compacted trash from the air and prevents pests (birds,
rats, mice, flying insects, etc.) from getting into the trash. This soil takes up quite a bit
of space. Because space is a precious commodity, many landfills are experimenting
with tarps or spray coverings of paper or cement/paper emulsions. These emulsions
can effectively cover the trash, but take up only a quarter of an inch instead of 6 inches!
 When a section of the landfill is finished, it is covered permanently with a
polyethylene cap (40 mil). The cap is then covered with a 2-foot layer of compacted
soil. The soil is then planted with vegetation to prevent erosion of the soil by rainfall
and wind. The vegetation consists of grass and kudzu. No trees, shrubs or plants with
deep penetrating roots are used so that the plant roots do not contact the underlying
trash and allow leachate out of the landfill.

Occasionally, leachate may seep through weak point in the covering and come
out on to the surface. It appears black and bubbly. Later, it will stain the ground red.
Leachate seepages are promptly repaired by excavating the area around the seepage
and filling it with well-compacted soil to divert the flow of leachate back into the landfill.

G. Groundwater Monitoring

At many points surrounding the landfill are groundwater monitoring stations.

These are pipes that are sunk into the groundwater so water can be sampled and
tested for the presence of leachate chemicals. The temperature of the groundwater is
measured. Because the temperature rises when solid waste decomposes, an increase
in groundwater temperature could indicate that leachate is seeping into the
groundwater. Also, if the pH of the groundwater becomes acidic, that could indicate
seeping leachate.

References:
[1] https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/process-of-wastewater-treatment.php
[2] https://www.deltares.nl/en/news/removing-microplastics-in-sewage-treatment-plants-
2/
[3] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166111608716182
[4] https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-10/documents/cellulose-
product_prelim-study_2011.pdf
[5] https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/landfill3.htm