Grantee Research Project Results

2002 Progress Report: Characterizing Moisture Content Within Landfills

EPA Grant Number: R827933C021
Subproject: this is subproject number 021 , established and managed by the Center Director under grant R825427
(EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
Center: Urban Waste Management and Research Center (University New Orleans)
Center Director: McManis, Kenneth
Title: Characterizing Moisture Content Within Landfills
Investigators: Tittlebaum, Marty , Imhoff, Paul T. , Chiu, Pei
Institution: University of New Orleans , University of Delaware
EPA Project Officer: Aja, Hayley
Project Period: July 1, 2000 through June 30, 2003
Project Period Covered by this Report: July 1, 2001 through June 30,2002
RFA: Urban Waste Management & Research Center (1998) RFA Text |  Recipients Lists
Research Category: Targeted Research

Objective:

The objectives of this research are to test and evaluate a promising technology, recently developed by soil scientists, to characterize the moisture content within landfills. The research into the partitioning gas tracer technology will be conducted over a three-year period. In the first two years, laboratory experiments will be used to: (1) test the utility of this technology for measuring moisture content in municipal solid waste; (2) select optimal gas tracers; and (3) develop design guidelines for field implementation. In the third year of the project, field-sampling equipment will be designed and constructed, and an intermediate-scale test of the technology will be performed. From this suite of experiments, we will assess the advantages and any disadvantages with this technology, develop design guidelines for field implementation, and perform an economic analysis of the cost of performing these measurements.

The specific objectives of Year 3 of the project are to: (1) measure Henry’s law constant fordifluoromethane, the partitioning tracer we have selected in our work thus far, for a wide range of temperatures that span conditions in landfills (completed); (2) conduct an analysis for the effect of dissolved salts on the Henry’s law constant for difluoromethane (completed); (3) publish a manuscript in the Journal of Air & Waste Management describing the results from our small-scale laboratory experiments where water was measured in solid waste (manuscript accepted and in press); (4) complete the design of experiments to be conducted at an intermediate scale test facility, a landfill operated by the Delaware Solid Waste Authority in Sandtown, Delaware (completed); (5) install and test field equipment for the intermediate scale test (completed); and (6) begin field testing at the Sandtown Landfill operated by the Delaware Solid Waste Authority (tests started).

Progress Summary:

Year 3

The Henry’s law constant for difluoromethane was originally measured using actual tracer tests conducted in an experimental apparatus maintained at different temperatures and filled with sand and residual amounts of water. However, The results were not reproducible, however, which may be attributed to difficulties maintaining temperature control in this system.

In light of experimental difficulties with this approach, batch experiments were conducted instead using 250 ml glass bottles with known amounts of water and head space gas. Difluoromethane was injected into the gas in these bottles, and after equilibrium was reached, gas-phase samples were collected and analyzed for difluoromethane concentrations. Mass balance calculations were used to determine difluoromethane concentrations in the water. With these, measurements, Henry’s law constants were determined, and the results are shown in the Ffigure below, where error bars represent 95 percent confidence intervals. The Henry’s law constant for difluoromethane is a strong function of temperature, increasing from 0.27 to 0.90 as temperatures increase from 4 ºC to 50º C. Because the Henry’s law constant is the key parameter in measuring water from these tests, temperature must be measured in the landfill during partitioning gas tracer tests. TheseTheise data will then be used to select the “correct” Henry’s law constant for the particular field conditions encountered during the test.

Figure 1. Henry’s Law Constant Versus Temperature

The intermediate scale field test has met with many challenges this year. Our initial plan was to conduct this test at the New River Landfill in Raiford, Florida. However, Because of delays in construction at this site, however, we were forced to move the test to landfills operated by the Delaware Solid Waste Authority in Delaware. While the New River Landfill has an impermeable cap to limit water infiltration, the landfills we have access to in Delaware have soil caps. Thus, the moisture content of the solid waste near the upper surface of the Delaware landfills was significantly affected by precipitation events.

Two to four wells were installed to depths of 8-16 feet below the landfill surface at two landfills in Delaware: the Cherry Island Landfill and the Sandtown Landfill. These wells were intended to be used for injecting and extracting the tracer gases. Unfortunately, because of the heavy and persistent rainfall on the East Coast this spring and summer, the wells themselves always were always filled with water at both landfills. This made it impossible to conduct the field test, becausesince the partitioning gas tracers would measure both the water in the wells and in the solid waste, and it would be impossible to compare these numbers with gravimetric measurements of water only found in the solid waste. The amount of water in the wells and in the packing surrounding the well screens was significant in comparison to the water in the solid waste that we were measuring. We currently are currently waiting for the water levels to drop in wells located at the Sandtown Landfill before conducting the field test at this site.

Future Activities:

We have received a no-cost extension to this subproject to complete the intermediate scale field tests. In the next year, we will: (1) conduct field scale experiments at the Sandtown Landfill operated by the Delaware Solid Waste Authority in Delaware;(2) conduct field- scale experiments at the Sandtown Landfill operated by the Delaware Solid Waste Authority in Delaware;(3) investigate the importance of mass transfer limitations on the utility of the tracer technology when large water pockets form in trash; and (4) perform a preliminary cost analysis for this technology based on the data collected to date.

In addition to this work, because of the promise of this technology, we have begun collaboration with Yolo County, California, to measure water using partitioning gas tracers at their bioreactor test cells. This work will be supported by the Department of Energy. Together with the field tests in Delaware, data collected from Yolo County should provide us with an excellent data set for assessing the utility of this technology at other landfills.

Journal Articles on this Report : 1 Displayed | Download in RIS Format

Publications Views

Other subproject views:	All 1 publications	1 publications in selected types	All 1 journal articles
Other center views:	All 55 publications	13 publications in selected types	All 7 journal articles

Publications

Type	Citation	Sub Project	Document Sources
Journal Article	Imhoff PT, Jakubowitch A, Briening ML, Chiu PC. Partitioning gas tracer tests for measurement of water in municipal solid waste. Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association 2003;53(11):1391-1400.	R827933C021 (2002)	Abstract: Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association Exit

Supplemental Keywords:

water content, landfills, waste, chemistry, chemistry and materials science, engineering, environmental engineering, municipal, sustainable environment, technology for sustainable environment, gas tracer technology, geosynthetic clay liners, landfill design, landfill moisture control, landfill operation, landfills, modeling, moisture content, municipal solid waste landfills,, RFA, Scientific Discipline, Waste, Sustainable Industry/Business, Municipal, Sustainable Environment, Chemistry, Technology for Sustainable Environment, Chemistry and Materials Science, Ecology and Ecosystems, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, landfill design, modeling, moisture content, landfill operation, municipal waste, gas tracer technology, municipal solid waste landfills, landfills, geosynthetic clay liners

Relevant Websites:

http://www.ce.udel.edu/~imhoff/ Exit
http://bioreactor.org Exit

Progress and Final Reports:

Original Abstract

2001

Final

Main Center Abstract and Reports:

R825427    Urban Waste Management and Research Center (University New Orleans)

Subprojects under this Center: (EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
R825427C001 Comprehensive Evaluation of The Dual Trickling Filter Solids Contact Process
R825427C002 Issues Involving the Vertical Expansion of Landfills
R825427C003 Deep Foundations on Brownfields Sites
R825427C004 Ambient Particulate Concentration Model for Traffic Intersections
R825427C005 Effectiveness of Rehabilitation Approaches for I/I Reduction
R825427C006 Urban Solid Waste Management Videos
R825427C007 UWMRC Community Outreach Multimedia Exhibit
R825427C008 Including New Technology into the Investigation of Inappropriate Pollutant Entries into Storm Drainage Systems - A User's Guide
R825427C009 Investigation of Hydraulic Characteristics and Alternative Model Development of Subsurface Flow Constructed Wetlands
R825427C010 Beneficial Use Of Urban Runoff For Wetland Enhancement
R825427C011 Urban Storm and Waste Water Outfall Modeling
R827933C001 Development of a Model Sediment Control Ordinance for Louisiana
R827933C002 Inappropriate Discharge to Stormwater Drainage (Demonstration Project)
R827933C003 Alternate Liner Evaluation Model
R827933C004 LA DNR - DEQ - Regional Waste Management
R827933C005 Landfill Design Specifications
R827933C006 Geosynthetic Clay Liners as Alternative Barrier Systems
R827933C007 Used Tire Monofill
R827933C008 A Comparison of Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Bed (USAB) and the Anaerobic Biofilm Fluidized Bed Reactor (ABFBR) for the Treatment of Municipal Wastewater
R827933C009 Integrated Environmental Management Plan for Shipbuilding Facilities
R827933C010 Nicaragua
R827933C011 Louisiana Environmental Education and Resource Program
R827933C012 Costa Rica - Costa Rican Initiative
R827933C013 Evaluation of Cr(VI) Exposure Assessment in the Shipbuilding Industry
R827933C014 LaTAP, Louisiana Technical Assistance Program: Pollution Prevention for Small Businesses
R827933C015 Louisiana Environmental Leadership Pollution Prevention Program
R827933C016 Inexpensive Non-Toxic Pigment Substitute for Chromium in Primer for Aluminum Sibstrate
R827933C017 China - Innovative Waste Composting Plan for the City of Benxi, People's Rupublic of China
R827933C018 Institutional Control in Brownfields Redevelopment: A Methodology for Community Participation and Sustainability
R827933C019 Physico-Chemical Assessment for Treatment of Storm Water From Impervious Urban Watersheds Typical of the Gulf Coast
R827933C020 Influence of Cyclic Interfacial Redox Conditions on the Structure and Integrity of Clay Liners for Landfills Subject to Variable High Groundwater Conditions in the Gulf Coast Region
R827933C021 Characterizing Moisture Content Within Landfills
R827933C022 Bioreactor Landfill Moisture Management
R827933C023 Urban Water Issues: A Video Series
R827933C024 Water Quality Modeling in Urban Storm Water Systems
R827933C025 The Development of a Web Based Instruction (WBI) Program for the UWMRC User's Guide (Investigation of Inappropriate Pollutant Entries Into Storm Drainage Systems)
R827933C027 Legal Issues of SSO's: Private Property Sources and Non-NPDES Entities
R827933C028 Brownfields Issues: A Video Series
R827933C029 Facultative Landfill Bioreactors (FLB): A Pilot-Scale Study of Waste Stabilization, Landfill Gas Emissions, Leachate Treatment, and Landfill Geotechnical Properties
R827933C030 Advances in Municipal Wastewater Treatment
R827933C031 Design Criteria for Sanitary Sewer System Rehabilitation
R827933C032 Deep Foundations in Brownfield Areas: Continuing Investigation
R827933C033 Gradation-Based Transport, Kinetics, Coagulation, and Flocculation of Urban Watershed Rainfall-Runoff Particulate Matter
R827933C034 Leaching and Stabilization of Solid-Phase Residuals Separated by Storm Water BMPs Capturing Urban Runoff Impacted by Transportation Activities and Infrastructure
R827933C035 Fate of Pathogens in Storm Water Runoff
R87933C020 Influence of Cyclic Interfacial Redox Conditions on the Structure and Integrity of Clay Liners for Landfills Subject to Variable High Groundwater Conditions in the Gulf Coast Region