SANITARY

LANDFILL
UNIT-V
A modern sanitary landfill is a complex structure that isolates trash from the
surrounding environment until it becomes inert.
Landfills comprises
 a bottom liner made from clay and durable synthetic plastic
a leachate collection system to remove liquids
 a storm water management system that keeps surface water from
flowing into the garbage and
 a methane collection system that removes landfill gas as it is generated.

The leachate, storm water, and gas collection systems are constantly
monitored. Landfills are required to budget for monitoring and maintenance
for decades after closure to ensure that no harmful chemicals escape.
• The primary aim of a landfill is to ensure zero contamination of the
environment from chemical, solid or liquid wastes.
• It must prevent the percolation of harmful liquid into groundwater
and avoid the escape of toxic gaseous emissions into the atmosphere.
• Landfills are therefore well-engineered and well-managed structures
that help dispose of solid wastes in compliance with regulations.
How landfill works?
• Landfills are divided into sections, called cells, that are filled and
closed sequentially. Cells can be anywhere from 2,500 square feet
up to 20 acres or more, depending on the size of the landfill.
Nowadays, the tendency is toward larger cells and landfills.
• When a new cell is built, the hole is lined with 2 feet of compacted
clay, a durable plastic liner, and a nonporous geotextile membrane.
• That outliner lining is covered with a layer of granular material that
helps funnel liquids into a leachate collection system
• Up to two feet of soil is layered on top of that before garbage is
added. Often, the first layer of garbage will comprise special materials
such as old mattresses, to further protect the lining.
• Once the cell is constructed, municipal solid waste is dumped inside
and run over by compacting tractors.
• At the end of each day, the garbage must be completely covered to
minimize odours, deter pests, limit rainwater runoff, prevent waste
fires, and discourage scavenging-daily cover.
• Daily cover most often consists of six inches of soil. This can fill up a
cell more quickly, so alternate daily covers, such as geotextile cloth
or even certain types of waste like ash or tires, are sometimes used
to maximize efficiency.
• Wells and trenches for collecting landfill gas are installed at regular
intervals as the landfill fills.
• When the cell is completely full, it receives a final cover, or cap, much
like the bottom liner. The cap will be further covered by topsoil, which
will be seeded with vegetation for the duration of the decades-long
post-closure monitoring period
 Landfill Gas
• By far the largest environmental impact of landfilling is the production
of landfill gas (LFG).
• Although landfills are designed to minimize decomposition, organic
materials do eventually break down in a landfill. When they do, LFG is
the byproduct.
• LFG is roughly half methane and half carbon dioxide, and as such, it is a
powerful greenhouse gas.
• All landfills are required to collect LFG. At most landfills, the collected
gas is burned off at flare stations, making landfills the third-largest
source of human-related methane emissions in the United States.
• Sometimes the collected gas is used to power boilers or furnaces, or it
can be refined into renewable natural gas. Most often, it is used to
generate electricity.
 Liners/ Hydraulic barrier
• Hydraulic barrier systems are used in modern landfills to isolate the
landfill contents from the environment and, therefore, to provide
environmental protection and prevent groundwater contamination
problems.

• A typical composite liner system consists of a Geosynthetic Clay Liner

(GCL) or compacted clay liner (CCL) overlain by a plastic geo-
membrane (high density polyethylene, HDPE) to minimize the escape
of contaminants from the landfill.
Lphd –litres per hectare per day
GCL-GEOSYNTHETIC CLAY
LINERS
• Functioning as a hydraulic barrier, GCLs in landfill engineering are
known for their properties of filtration, separation, reinforcement,
drainage and stabilization.
• GCLs are a high-performance and cost-effective geo-composite
alternative to traditional compacted clay liners.
• A GCL comprises two layers of geotextiles enclosing a layer of
sodium bentonite (natural sealant). The layer of bentonite swells
when water contacts it.
 Advantages of GCL
• Long-lasting resistance to chemical breakdown
• physically robust to withstand harsh environments, and
• super-efficient as containment systems,
• GCLs are an excellent solution for landfills.
• The lower the permeability and conductivity, the higher the efficiency
of GCLs, minimizing seepage.
• Self-sealing properties reduce the risk of puncture, and the GCLs also
have excellent shear resistance.
• Additionally, the ease of installation and cost-effective nature of
GCLs make them a natural choice for landfill engineers.
Within the context of landfill engineering, here are
some of the typical GCL applications:

• Base liners in landfills

• Surface liners
• Gaseous seals or caps
• Secondary containment
• Tailings containment
• Waterproofing
• Groundwater protection
• Vertical barriers
GCLs not just reduce construction time and cost but are also highly
environmentally friendly.
Geo-synthetic clay liners
• A common option for a landfill lining system is a Compacted Clay Liner
(CCL) with a granular drainage blanket above to collect leachate.
• An equivalent solution using geosynthetics is a drainage
geocomposite in lieu of the granular drainage blanket, and a
Geosynthetic Clay Liner (GCL) in lieu of the CCL.
• The geosynthetic system is significantly easier to install, more cost
effective and has a much lower carbon footprint
• The traditional method is based on a granular drainage blanket with
filter geotextiles above and below to prevent fine material from
clogging the drainage blanket.
• The geo-composite system is a drainage geocomposite (Pozidrain
G6SD/NW8) over a GCL (Claymat AS4500). Pozidrain G6SD/NW8
consists of a cuspated HDPE core with filter textiles either side.
Claymat AS4500 is made up of a filter geotextile, 4.5kg/m2 bentonite,
and a woven geotextile.
• The total thickness of the geo-composite system is just under 15mm
which provides the added benefit of increasing the available volume
of the landfill.
Pozidrain G6SD/NW8

Claymat AS4500
Liner system evaluation, with scores
from 1 (worst/most difficult) to 5
(best/least difficult)
 Geomembranes
• Geomembranes, often made of materials like high-
density polyethylene (HDPE), are crucial components of
landfill liners, acting as a barrier to prevent leachate
and other pollutants from escaping into the
environment.
• They are used in both the bottom liner and as a
cover or cap for landfills.
 Landfill leachate management
• Leachate is a watery liquid that oozes out from the waste material during
its decomposition.
• Precipitation that flows through the waste material further increases the
quantity of leachate generated from landfills.
• Leachate is a liquid that contains soluble components of the waste,
suspended solids and other degraded products.
• The characteristic of leachate depends on the composition of waste,
presence of biodegradable substances, moisture content, weather
conditions, waste holding time and operational procedures. Longer the
waste holding time, higher is the concentration of persistent organic
pollutants.
• The stage of biodegradation also influences the composition of
leachate.
• Example, inert waste produces a minimum amount of leachate unlike
the biodegradable waste. Likewise, the concentration of pollutant in
leachate also varies with the nature of waste. Leachate generally
consists of undesirable toxic chemicals such as organic acids,
aldehydes and alcohols.
• The main goal of managing landfill leachate is to prevent the
contamination of groundwater, surface water and soil. Leachate, if not
handled properly causes various environmental and health implications.
• The major problems include water and soil contamination, odour problem,
spread of diseases, epidemics, vegetation damage and many more.
• The aesthetics of the site is also affected by the site. Leachate generation
in landfill is influenced by number of factors such as rainfall, landfill cover,
waste type, vegetation, climatic conditions, and landfill design.
• The flow rate of leachate depends on precipitation, surface run-off,
evaporation, permeation, groundwater intrusion, type of waste (water
content and degree of compaction in the cells), and land filling methods
(employing daily cover).
 Toxicity of leachate
• Bioassay studies prove leachate to be highly toxic liquid. Ammonia,
chloride, heavy metals, acidity and alkalinity are few of the toxic
pollutants present in leachate. Leachate generated from municipal
solid waste possesses mutagenic and carcinogenic substances
Charac. Of Leachate
 Composition of leachate

• The composition of leachate may vary greatly depending upon the

age of the landfill, pH, nature of waste, decomposition rate and
weather conditions.
 Age of the landfill:
• The composition of leachate varies greatly with the age of the landfill.
• Young landfills generate acetogenic leachate while old or matured landfill
generates methanogenic leachate.
• The waste within the landfills undergoes degradation in five different phases.
• During the initial period (stage 1) when the hydrolysis or aerobic degradation
occurs, the leachate generation is minimum and just contains carbonic acid as
the major constituent. The pH of leachate during this phase is acidic in nature.
• The fermentation (stage 2) and acetogenic (stage 3) phase greatly influences
the composition of leachate.
• The major proportion of the complex waste is degraded into simpler
substances especially organic acids, ammonia and hydrogen.
• The pH of the leachate drops below 4, thereby increasing the solubility of
metals.
• Thus, the leachate produced during the acetogenic phase contains a high
amount of COD (1, 52,000 mg/L); ammonical nitrogen (922 mg/L) and
heavy metals.
• Higher levels of ammonia are contributed by biodegradation of proteins
and other nitrogenous compounds.
• The BOD/COD ratio is very high for leachate generated during stage 3
indicating high levels of organic materials and its biodegradability.
• Stage 4 (i.e.) methanogenesis result in leachate of varied composition.The
pH of the methanogenic leachate is alkaline in nature showing an average
pH of 7.52.
• The degradation of organic acid to methane and carbon dioxide resulted in
pH shift. The solubility of metal ions where restricted due to pH shift.
• The COD and BOD levels of the methanogenic leachate are comparatively
lesser than acetogenic leachate. However, the concentration of
ammonical nitrogen remained high in the methanogenic leachate.
 Nature of waste:
 Municipal solid waste generally generates leachate high in organic
matter and ammonia.
Hazardous waste landfills generate leachate having a highly variable
concentration of different types of compounds viz. salts, metals,
halogenated compounds and other organic compounds.
Leachate from inert landfills contain minimum amount of organic and
inorganic species.
 Landfills destined for lower levels of biodegradable waste generates
leachate of comparatively lesser organic matter.
 Decomposition rate and
weather conditions:
• Once, water seeps through the waste, anoxic condition is created by
the decomposition by bacteria and fungi as they consume all the
available oxygen.
• The waste which undergoes decomposition, cause increase in the
temperature and fall in the pH.
• It results in dissolution of metal ions in the leachate which are
otherwise insoluble in neutral pH.
• The waste undergoing decomposition processes release water adding
volume to the leachate.
• Leachate is blackish, orangish or yellowish liquid that emits strong odour.
The strong odour can be attributed to the presence of hydrogen-,
nitrogen- and sulfur-rich organic compounds. In addition to the above
mentioned characteristics, leachate also contains more than 200 types of
xenobiotic organic compounds. Major elements, trace metals, and
microbiological substances are present both in dissolved and suspended
form. The pollutants of leachate can be broadly classified into four groups.

• Dissolved organic matter including alcohols, acids, aldehydes, short chain

sugars; volatile fatty acids; fluvic and humus like materials.
• Inorganic macro components including common cations and anions. Heavy
metals.
• Xenobiotic organic compounds.
 Estimation of leachate generation

• The factors used for estimation of leachate generation include.

• Amount of rainfall
• Amount and rate of rainwater Infiltration through the landfill Potential
of waste to absorb water
• Amount of liquid waste disposed in the landfill Weight of the waste
after the absorption of water Leakage via seepage or discharge
• The amount of leachate generated for municipal solid waste is estimated as per
the formula mentioned below
Lo= [ER+ LIW+IRA] – [LTP + aW+ DL]

• Lo= [Free leachate retained at the site (leachate production minus leachate
leaving the site)
• ER = Effective rainfall (or actual on an active surface area); this may need to be
modified to account for run- off, especially after capping
• LIW= liquid industrial waste (including any surplus water from sludges)
• IRA = infiltration through restored and capped area
• LTP = discharge of leachate off- site
• A = unit absorptive capacity of wastes
• W = weight of absorptive waste
• DL = Designed seepage (if appropriate)
 Leachate Management
• A lined leachate evaporation ponds are constructed for managing
landfill leachate. The leachate is collected in the ponds through
extraction of leachate from the waste containing landfill cell by using a
leachate collection system. The leachate cells are usually lined using
synthetic material or by using clay liner. The liner system prevents
leachate from seeping the soils underneath.

• The leachate pond commonly uses floating aerators which helps in

treating it and reducing the odours by preventing it from becoming
anaerobic. The pond also induces evaporation and reduces the leachate
volume. The Sludge formed is removed from time to time and either
deposited within the landfill cell or other safe location.
 Components of
leachate collection
systems
The components leachate collection system includes pumps, manholes,
discharge lines and liquid level monitors.
However, liners, filters, pumps and sumps are the four main
components governing the overall efficiency of the system.
 Liners:
• Liners are used as both collection device and means for separating leachate within the landfill. Liners can be
either natural or synthetic. It is used to protect the soil and groundwater underneath. The liners should
essentially be strong and impermeable in nature. Moreover, an effective liner should flexible, possess high
tensile strength, tolerant to temperature fluctuation and should be black in colour (to resist UV light). The
liners should be easy to install, economical and resistance to scratch, and chemical degradation by leachate.
The common liners used in leachate management are geomembranes, geosynthetic clay liners, geotextiles,
geogrids, geonets, and geocomposites. Each liner comes with specific features and uses. The
geomembranes are utilized as a barrier between mobile polluting materials released from wastes and the
groundwater. They are generally used in the closing of landfills to provide a low-permeability cover barrier
which restricts the incursion of rain water. Geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs) are prepared by spreading
sodium bentonite (having low permeability) uniformly between woven and non-woven geotextiles.
Geotextiles are used as partition between two different types of soils to check the pollution of the lower
layer by the upper stratum. It protects synthetic layers against perforation from underlying and overlaying
rocks. Geogrids are kind of structural synthetic materials utilized in slope surface stability for creating stable
cover soils over synthetic liners. Geonets are also a kind of are synthetic materials used instead of sand and
gravel. Geocomposites are a combination of synthetic materials that are used individually. Geocomposites
provide filter and drainage medium.
 Leachate drainage system:
• The leachate drainage system is used to collect and transport the
leachate which is collected inside the liner. The pipes of the drainage
system are located at the bottom of the cell. The pipeline network can
be flexible or rigid but the joints connecting the pipes should be flexible
to withhold enormous amount of weight and pressure. The collection
pipe network drains, collects, and transports leachate throughout the
drainage layer to a collection sump where it is separated for the
treatment or disposal. The pipe network also helps in draining the waste
within the drainage system to reduce the mounding of leachate. These
pipes are fabricated with cuts in such a way that they are inclined to 120
degrees and prevent the entry of solid particles.
 Filters:
• The filter layer is used on top of the drainage layer in leachate collection system.
Granular and geotextile are two types of filters used in practices. Granular filters come
with one or more soil layers which have coarse gradation in the direction of the leakage
than the soil to be protected. When liquid enters the landfill cell, it progresses down the
filter, passes through the pipeline and rests in the sump. For efficient operation, the
number, location, and size of the sumps are very important. While designing sumps, it is
important to consider the amount of leachate and liquid expected. The size of sump is
larger in the areas falling under higher than average rainfall. The capacity of pump is also
an important criterion in sump planning. Larger the pump capacity smaller is the sump
size. It is vital for the capacity of the sump to be able to accumulate the expected liquid
between the pumping cycles. Leachate is conveyed by the collection pipes through the
gravity to one or more sumps depending on the extent of the area drained. Leachate
collected in the sump is disposed by pumping either to a vehicle or to the holding facility
for vehicle pickup or to an on-site treatment facility.
 Membrane and collection for
treatment:
• Some landfills are equipped with some forms of membrane
separating the waste from the surrounding ground. In such sites the
leachate collection pipe network is laid on the membrane to put
across the leachate to a collection or treatment site. The membranes
are porous to some extent because, over time a low volume of
leachate crosses the membrane. The design of landfill membranes is
at low volumes so that they never have a quantifiable adverse impact
on the quality of the receiving groundwater.
 Reinjection into landfill:
• In leachate management, leachate is collected and re-injected into
the waste mass for recirculation. These processes greatly increase the
decomposition and gas production. It positively impacts the
conversion of leachate volume into landfill gas and thus reduces the
overall volume of leachate for disposal.
 Treatment methods
• The on-site treatment is usually practiced in landfill management. In
on-site leachate treatment, the leachate is pumped from the sump
into the treatment container. The leachate is then sometimes mixed
with some chemical reagents to adjust the pH, coagulate and settle
solids. It also reduces the concentration of hazardous substance.
However, the treatment methods for landfill leachate are ideally
classified as biological, physicochemical and combination of biological
and physicochemical methods.
 Biological methods:
• The main biological processes include activated sludge, the rotating biological
contractors, sequencing batch reactor (SBR), reed beds, biological aerated
filters and lagoons. Others are up- flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB),
moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) and the membrane bioreactors (MBR) and
anaerobic filters. In activated sludge process, oxygen is provided in the aeration
tank as the leachate flows all along the system. Microorganisms thrive in the
tank forming biological flocs. The microorganisms which are in suspension
consume the organic matter in the leachate and transform it into new microbial
biomass, carbon dioxide and water. Microbial activity reduces the organic
content of the leachate. At the clarifier or settling tank, the sludge formed
settles at the floor of the tank while the supernatant is runoff as effluent. Part
of the sludge is returned to the aeration tank to re-seed incoming leachate.
 Rotating Biological Contractor:
• The RBC known as a bio-rotor uses attached growth system. It
consists of circular plastic discs mounted on a shaft which is partly
submerged in a tank holding the leached water. As the shaft rotate,
the microorganisms adhered to the disc, assimilate and treat organic
matter from the leached water as they pass over the surface of the
disc. Aerobic conditions are maintained while the disc rotates out of
the leachate. The disc provides the contact between biomass and the
leachate, mixes the mixed liquor and aerates the leachate. However,
performance of rotating biological contractor is lower than activated
sludge technique.
 Sequence batch reactors (SBR):
• In SBRs, microorganisms are in suspension. However, the main
difference is that the aeration and sludge settlement take place in the
same tank in a batch mode based on operation cycle.
• Reed beds: Reed beds come with gentle sloping beds lined with impervious
barrier and fixed with emergent hydrophytes such as reeds (Phragmites), bulrush
(Scirpus), or cattails (Typha). Reed beds sometimes have an inlet zone of crushed
stone in order to distribute wastewater uniformly over the bed with an outlet
zone of compacted stone to collect and discharge the effluent. Leachate enters
the inlet and moves slowly through the bed flowing in the horizontal path. As the
leachate flows, oxygen circulates into the beds. Then an aerobic bacterium
surrounding the rhizomes of reeds consumes it to oxidize organic substance in
leachate as it moves on through the bed. The gravel /soil in which the reeds are
planted acts as a filter medium.

• Biologically aerated filter (BAF): A BAF is a kind of treatment tank with submerged
aerated fixed film biological filtration systems which provide a surface for the
biomass and hold back suspended solids. It acts as a biological contactor and a
filter which eliminates the need for a separate sedimentation step.
 Physiochemical treatment of
leachate:
Adsorption: Adsorption which is a process of accumulating substances in solution
on a suitable interface involves transfer of constituent in the liquid phase to the
solid phase. Mostly used adsorbents include synthetic polymeric, activated carbon
and silica-based adsorbents. Activated carbon is used most commonly in advanced
wastewater treatment applications. PACT (Powdered Activated Carbon Treatment)
is also used sometimes as an adsorbant. The process involves the continuous
addition of PAC to the activated sludge bioreactor to adsorb toxic contaminants.
The adsorbed sludge is later incinerated to destroy the organics. Pre-treatment is a
prerequisite for adsorption process. Suspended solids must be removed before
subjecting leachate to carbon adsorption process, otherwise grease and oils may
accumulate on the first few inches of surface and hinder the process. This
treatment process has various advantages as it does not require precipitation and
sedimentation.
Membrane technology:
• Membranes are used as a final or polishing step in leachate treatment.
Microfiltration and ultrafiltration have been found to be effective in the removal of
large organics from aqueous leachate streams. Best application of these membrane
technologies is carried out at sites where leachate contains only one primary
contaminant. As membranes having greater productivity and chemical resistance
are developed, microfiltration and ultrafiltration have become more viable
treatment alternatives. Reverse osmosis has not been widely applied to the full-
scale treatment of waste leachate because of the delicate nature of reverse osmosis
membranes and the strength and complexity of leachate. RO has just been used as
a polishing step subsequent to other more conventional processes. Reverse osmosis
can remove dissolved inorganics (metals, metal-cyanide complexes, and other ionic
species) and high-molecular-weight organics (e.g., pesticides) from leachate.
Leachate is pre-treated before subjecting it to reverse osmosis process.
• Chemical treatment: Under the umbrella of chemical treatments comes
those techniques in which we add certain chemicals to detoxify and
remove harmful constituents present in leachate. Chemical methods
are fast and do not cause damage to the set up. Some important
methods of chemical treatment are given below.

• Coagulation and precipitation: This process involves addition of certain

chemicals to leachate which react with impurities and render them
harmless, which are finally removed by sedimentation. This treatment
method is useful on leachate with very high molecular weight organic
material such as fulvic and humic acids.
• Chemical oxidation: Chemical oxidation is another method of waste treatment
where oxidative degradation or transformation of wastes is carried out. Usually
wastewaters that are resistant to biodegradation or create toxicity in biological
reactors are given chemical oxidation treatment. A variety of chemical oxidants
used for leachate treatment include hydrogen peroxide, ozone, chlorine. A point to
remember while selecting an oxidation agent is to check oxidation ability of the
oxidant. More the oxidation ability better will be the oxidation process undertaken.
This method is a preferred technique for the treatment of low BOD5/COD (i.e.
stabilized) landfill leachates. Oxidants, such as chlorine, potassium permanganate,
ozone, and calcium hydrochloride are popular.

• Ammonia Stripping: In ammonia stripping large quantities of air is passed over

exposed surface of the leachate, which causes the partial pressure of the ammonia
gas within the water to convert the ammonia in the liquid to the gas phase.
Ammonia stripping can be used by water falling through a flow of air in the form of
bubbles. Stripping towers have been found to be more effective since there is a
better contact between the gas and liquid phases when dispersion of liquid takes
place in the form of fine droplets.