Applied Ecological Services, Inc.

Sustainable Solutions for Over 30 Years

Treatment Biocells for Contaminant Removal from Landfill Leachate March 13,

2012

Doug Eppich, Ph.D., P.E. John Roll, Ph.D., P.E.

Brian Tippetts, Director , Solid Waste

Doug Eppich, Brian Tippetts, & John Roll

AES’ Landfill Overview:

•Nearly thirty years of serving the natural resources industry• Worked on a multitude of landfills with partners in USA and Canada

• Expansions, closures and buffer land ecological restoration (design-build )

• Beneficial re-use planning (parks, conservation, etc.)

AES’ Landfill Overview:

•Nearly thirty years of serving the natural resources industry• Worked on a multitude of landfills with partners in USA and Canada

• Expansions, closures and buffer land ecological restoration (design-build )

• Beneficial re-use planning (parks, conservation, etc.)

AES’ Landfill Solutions:

•Challenging permits with environmental issues (Threatened and Endangered species, surface water, neighbor/host agreement, wetlands and other ecosystems)

• Beneficial re-use of landfills for conservation

• Legal discovery and support•Closure and buffer restoration, plantings and stabilization (design-build)

• Conservation storm water management and water quality

• Environmental group negotiation

Leachate Problems:• N, BOD/COD, salts, metals• Public Treatment Works (POTW)

limitations• Trucking costs• Active landfill concentrations• Regulatory acceptance, treatment

“biocells”• 30-year post closure

Landfill Leachate Constituents

1. Constructed Wetlands for Wastewater Treatment. Pgs. 735-742. Lewis Publishers, Inc. 1989.

Constituent Typical Ranges1 WQ Standards

* Biocell Treatment*** Special Requirement (Ammend, Bacterial Inoculation, etc.)

** Not Treated in Biocells

- ***2 mg/L *0.050 – 0.340 mg/L ***1 mg/L ***1 – 10 µg/L *,***- *5 µg/L ***250 mg/L

**0.050 mg/L ***0.00001 - 0.2 µg/L

**0.0000006 – 0.24 µg/L **0.300 mg/L *50 µg/L ***0.300 mg/L ***

Landfill Leachate Constituents

1. Constructed Wetlands for Wastewater Treatment. Pgs. 735-742. Lewis Publishers, Inc. 1989.

Constituent Typical Ranges1 WQ Standards

* Biocell Treatment*** Special Requirement (Ammend, Bacterial Inoculation, etc.)

** Not Treated in Biocells

6.5 – 8.5 ***1 - 5 µg/L *,***- *4.6 – 10 µg/L ***- *,***5 – 6,000 µg/L *,***- *0.002 µg/L *,***

Treatment Biocell Benefits: • Cost reduction through reduced O & M • Reduced waste disposal costs• Added open space, green space, and wildlife

elements• Enhanced aesthetic appeal• Minimal maintenance required• Enhanced community relations through favorable

land use policy• Compliance with federal, state, and local

regulations regarding storm water runoff and NPS pollution

• Elimination of environmentally damaging contaminants from point and non-point sources

Treatment Biocell Data: • Pre-design leachate water quality data is

essential• Evaluate outflow concentrations of the

contaminants• Size treatment biocells• Determine if treatment biocells are feasible and

warranted

Treatment Biocell Types: • Free water surface (FWS) – Similar to natural biocells with

open water and vegetation. Usually a combination of interconnected aerobic (shallow water) and aneorbic (deep water) cells.

• Horizontal subsurface flow (HSSF) – Typically a gravel bed with biocell planted on the surface. Wastewater flows horizontally through the bed from inlet to outlet. The root zone layer is usually aerobic trending rapidly to anaerobic conditions in the saturated media bed.

• Vertical flow (VF) – Wastewater is distributed over a bed of sand, gravel, or other porous media planted with emergent vegetation. Varies from aerobic to anaerobic conditions at the bottom.

Biocell Treatment Processes:

• Physical -- Physical processes include sorption and sedimentation.

• Chemical – Chemical processes include precipitation, volatilization , photodegradation and constituent conversion

• Biochemical – Many chemical processes in biocells are mediated by specific bacteria such as the breaking of benzene rings and denitrification. The effectiveness of the treatment process depends on providing the proper environment (temperature, pH, nutrients) for these bacteria to function.

• Biological– Biocell plants can provide important functions including oxygenation of soils, vascular contaminant storage, biofilm attachment surfaces and organic matter source material

Biocell PhysicalTreatment Processes

• Sedimentation (or settling) is the major removal pathway for particulate pollutants. Sheetflow conditions promote settling, and plant root stabilizes sediments, thereby reducing the potential for re-suspension.

• Sorption The second primary removal pathway is by adsorption of pollutants to surfaces of sediments, biocell vegetation, and organic detritus.

Biocell ChemicalTreatment Processes

• Volatilization – Different processes in the biocell create gaseous products that are released to the atmosphere. Volatile organic compounds also diffuse to the atmosphere from biocells.

• Photodegradation – Sunlight on biocells can degrade chemicals by direct photolysis or photooxidation.

• Chemical Reactions – Addition of chemical amendments to biocells can be used to promote chemical reactions to convert toxic materials to non-toxic or to cause toxic materials to precipitate and be held in the bottom sediments.

Biocell BiochemicalTreatment Processes

• Biochemical Activity – Constructed biofiltration biocells provide favorable conditions for active microbial growth. Bacteria consume carbon and nitrogen compounds in the water column and sediments. Wetlands breakdown chemical species in sequential reaction steps that can remove complex contaminants (e.g. reductive dechlorination of chlorinated organic compounds) using specific bacteria to mediate the reactions.

Biocell BiologicalTreatment Processes

• Uptake By Plants & Algae - Pollutant uptake by plants and algae in vacuole storage removes nutrients and metals from the water column and sediments. This plant material must be harvested to effect a lasting removal.

• Accretion – Creation of new soil and sediment by stable biomass that is resistant to decay and has its own chemical composition.

• Plant Support Role – Plant roots, leaves and stems provide a biofilm attachment location, the transport mechanism for oxygenating soils and organic matter.

Nitrogen

• Treated Leachate Constituents – Organic Nitrogen, Ammonia, Nitrite/Nitrate

• Processes- Ammonification- Nitrification- Denitrification- Macrophyte growth

• Conditions – Aerobic and anaerobic zones, shallow & deep pool biocells, carbon source needed

Phosphorus

• Treated Leachate Constituents – Organic Phosphorus, Inorganic Phosphorus

• Processes- Macrophyte and microbiota growth- Sorption- Precipitation and Sedimentation

• Conditions – Aerobic and anaerobic zones, shallow & deep pool biocells

• Treated Leachate Constituents – BOD/COD• Processes

- Microbiota growth- Precipitation- Decomposition producing CO2 used by

macrophytes• Conditions – Aerobic and anaerobic zones,

shallow & deep pool biocells, nutrient source needed

BOD/COD

Salts

• Treated Leachate Constituents – Sodium Chloride, Calcium Chloride

• Processes – Chlorides pass through – Clay Sorption– Sulfate to Sulfide

• Conditions – Maintain basic pH, submerged soils, soil amendments, harvest plant material, warm temps, oxidizing environment, nutrients, carbon, bacteria

Metals

• Treated Leachate Constituents – Zinc, Copper, Lead, Chromium, Arsenic, Nickel, Cadmium, Iron

• Processes – Sorption and desorption (pH)– Dissolution of carbonate bound metals (pH)– Decomposition of metal organic complex

compounds (pH)– Hydroxides and Oxyhydrates (redox)– Water column adsorption– Sedimentation– Soil amendments (peat)

• Conditions – adjust pH (metal dependent)

Project Examples

Saline County Landfill Biocell

Saline County LandfillDesign Considerations

• Fe, BOD, TDS• Groundwater and leachate contaminants at the

Saline County, Illinois landfill are less than what we see at other landfills

• Hydraulic detention time (flow path, baffles)• Basin slope• Vegetative community for maximum treatment• Dry weather water balance• Addition of specialized treatment cell material

(peat)

Saline County Landfill Design Components

• A two-cell treatment biocell is proposed to address contaminant loads:

1. A shallow flow cell to reduce BOD concentrations.

2. A deeper, peat-based cell for treatment of metals and Total Dissolved Solids

* Note: The TDS concentrations in the Saline County landfill leachate do not appear to reflect high concentrations of sodium or chloride, thereby making the removal more effective.

Concept Plan - Vernon County Landfill Biocell Treatment Processes

Concept Plan - Vernon County Landfill Biocell Treatment Processes

Vernon County Landfill Biocell

Vernon County Landfill Constituent: Typical Ranges:1,1,1-Trichloroethane ND-4.62 mg/ LChlorobenzene 1.19-2.88 mg/ LEthylbenzene ND-17.2 mg/ LMethyl Ethyl Ketone ND-248 mg/ Lm,p-Xylenes 11.2-39.2 mg/ LMethyl Chloride ND-28.9 mg/ Lo-Xylene 15.3-22.4 mg/ LTetrahydrofuan 157-508 mg/ LToluene ND-50.2 mg/ Ltrans-1,2-Dichloroethylene ND-7.58 mg/ LVinyl Chloride ND-2.03 mg/ L

* other organic constituents non detectable (ND)

Vernon County Landfill Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year End

2010 625.7 646.85 414.25 696.49 721.74 1223.9 3034.86 2867.01 2013.1 549.54 429.19 379.15 13601.78

2009 448.78 495.51 903.81 862.86 868.5 848.11 573.72 534.69 801.87 842.35 701.59 355.24 8237.03

2008 827.4 653.02 870.64 1431.07 2471.46 1780.5 1542.59 430.03 621.74 585.4 566.21 300.18 12080.24

2007 289.15 196.84 866.8 680.66 612.52 557.84 491.6 2482.81 2066.47 1684.63 342.33 372.21 10643.86

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year End2010 160,436 165,859 106,218 178,587 185,062 313,821 778,169 735,131 516,179 141,025 110,000 97,180 3,487,667

2009 115,072 127,054 231,746 221,246 222,692 217,464 147,108 137,100 205,608 215,987 179,895 91,087 2,112,059

2008 212,154 167,441 223,241 366,941 633,708 456,538 395,536 110,264 159,421 150,103 145,182 76,969 3,097,497

2007 74,141 50,472 222,256 174,528 157,056 143,036 126,051 636,618 529,864 431,956 87,777 95,438 2,729,195

Vernon County Landfill - Leachate Volume in tons

Vernon County Landfill - Leachate Volume in gallons (gallon of leachate = 7.8 lb)

Vernon County Landfill

• Nitrogen, vertical & horizontal flow• Phase 1 storage and demonstration biocells built

in 2012• Bio-treatment demonstration, quantify results to

WDNR• Phase 2 as a part of clay borrow for cap• Regulatory hurdles

VernonCounty Landfill Design Components

Contact UsMidwest/Corporate17921 Smith RdBrodhead, WI 53520(608) 897-8641

Chicagoland120 W Main StWest Dundee, IL 60118(847) 844-9385

Northwoods21938 Mushtown RdPrior Lake, MN 55372(952) 447-1919

Great Plains1269 N 222nd RdBaldwin City, KS

66006(785) 594-2245

Atlantic Coast10 Balingomingo RdConshohocken, PA

19428(610) 238-9088

Northeast US1899 SR414Waterloo, NY 13165(608) 214-2361

Northern Illinois11714 Power Park RdHuntley, IL 60142(847) 669-1685

Hudson Valley18 Walker WayAlbany, NY 12205(608) 214-3110

Northeast Wisconsin

2836 Dundas Road Brillion, WI 54110(608) 214-1226