Microbiological and chemical analysis of air was carried out on the area of landfill of wastes other than inert or hazardous. The landfill covers 20 ha and 40 000 Mg of wastes is deposited annually. Municipal waste is not segregated at the landfill. The research was conducted in April, May and November 2012. Number of the psychrophilic and mesophilic bacteria and fungi was estimated by a culture-based method. Quantitative determination of sulfur compounds and meteorological and olfactrometric examinations were also carried out. Chemical analysis was conducted with a Photovac Voyager portable gas chromatograph. Air samples were collected at 5 points. The largest group of microbes were psychrophilic bacteria, especially in summer. The highest concentration of hydrogen sulfide and other odorants was found at leachate tank and landfill body. According to the Polish Standard for the assessment of atmospheric air pollution the air in the area of the landfill is classified as not contaminated and sporadically moderately contaminated. In spring and summer the number of microscopic fungi was increased also in control samples.
Treatment of leachate from an exploited since 2004 landfill by using two methods of advanced oxidation processes was performed. Fenton’s reagent with two different doses of hydrogen peroxide and iron and UV/H2O2 process was applied. The removal efficiency of biochemically oxidizable organic compounds (BOD5), chemically oxidizable compounds using potassium dichromate (CODCr) and nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) was examined. Studies have shown that the greatest degree of organic compounds removal expressed as a BOD5 index and CODCr index were obtained when Fenton’s reagent with greater dose of hydrogen peroxide was used - efficiency was respectively 72.0% and 69.8%. Moreover, in this case there was observed an increase in the value of ratio of BOD5/CODCr in treated leachate in comparison with raw leachate. Application of Fenton’s reagent for leachate treatment also allowed for more effective removal of nutrients in comparison with the UV/H2O2 process.
The new legislative provisions, regulating the trade in solid fuels in our country, draw attention to the need to develop and improve methods and methods of managing hard coal sludge. The aim of the work was to show whether filtration parameters (mainly the permeability coefficient) of hard coal sludge are sufficient for construction of insulating layers in landfills at the stage of their closing and what is the demand for material in the case of such a procedure. The analysis was carried out for landfills for municipal waste in the Opolskie, Śląskie and Małopolskie provinces. For hard coal sludge, the permeability coefficient values are in the range of 10–8–10–11 m/s, with the average value of 3.16 × 10–9 m/s. It can be concluded that this material generally meets the criteria of tightness for horizontal and often vertical flows. When compaction, increasing load or mixing with fly ash from hard coal combustion and clays, the achieved permeability coefficient often lowers its values. Based on the analysis, it can be assumed that hard coal sludge can be used to build mineral insulating barriers. At the end of 2016, 50 municipal landfills were open in the Opolskie, Śląskie and Małopolskie Provinces. Only 36 of them have obtained the status of a regional installation, close to 1/3 of the municipal landfill are within the Major Groundwater Basin (MGB) range. The remaining storage sites will be designated for closure. Assuming the necessity to close all currently active municipal waste landfills, the demand for hard coal sludge amounts to a total of 1,779,000 m3 which, given the assumptions, gives a mass of 2,704,080 Mg. The total amount of hard coal sludge production is very high in Poland. Only two basic mining groups annually produce a total of about 1,500,000 Mg of coal sludge. The construction of insulating layers in landfills of inert, hazardous and non-hazardous and inert wastes is an interesting solution. Such an application is prospective, but it will not solve the problem related to the production and management of this waste material as a whole. It is important to look for further solutions.
Uncontrolled emissions of landfill gas may contribute significantly to climate change, since its composition represents a high fraction of methane, a greenhouse gas with 100- year global warming potential 25 times that of carbon dioxide. Landfill cover could create favourable conditions for methanotrophy (microbial methane oxidation), an activity of using bacteria to oxidize methane to carbon dioxide. This paper presents a brief review of methanotrophic activities in landfill cover. Emphasis is given to the effects of cover materials, environmental conditions and landfill vegetation on the methane oxidation potential, and to their underlying effect mechanisms. Methanotrophs communities and methane oxidation kinetics are also discussed. Results from the overview suggest that well-engineered landfill cover can substantially increase its potential for reducing emissions of methane produced in landfill to the atmosphere.
Landfill leachate makes a potential source of ground water pollution. Municipal waste landfill substratum can be used for removal of pollutants from leachate. Model research was performed with use of a sand bed and artificially prepared leachates. Effectiveness of filtration in a bed of specific thickness was assessed based on the total solids content. Result of the model research indicated that the mass of pollutants contained in leachate filtered by a layer of porous soil (mf) depends on the mass of pollutants supplied (md). Determined regression functions indicate agreement with empirical values of variable m′f. The determined regression functions allow for qualitative and quantitative assessment of influence of the analysed independent variables (m′d, l, ω) on values of mass of pollutants flowing from the medium sand layer. Results of this research can be used to forecast the level of pollution of soil and underground waters lying in the zone of potential impact of municipal waste landfill.
The paper presents investigation results of the migration of a chemical compound contained in fly ash deposited on a dry furnace waste landfill site exposed to weather conditions. Climate conditions are able to significantly affect chemical component distribution in a block of deposited, moving chemical compounds to different depths. The main aim of the investigations was to determine the chemical component distribution of deposited fly ash in the landfill. Identification of chemical components based on XRF analysis indicated the existence of differences in both tested storage layer and the fraction of fly ash.
These studies examined the concept of concentration and purification of several types of wastewater by freezing and thawing. The experiments demonstrated that freezing of contaminated liquid contributed to concentration of contaminants in solution as well as significant concentration and agglomeration of solid particles. A high degree of purification was achieved for many parameters. The results of comparative laboratory tests for single and multiple freezing are presented. It was found that there was a higher degree of concentration of pollutants in wastewater frozen as man-made snow than in bulk ice. Furthermore, the hypothesis that long storage time of liquid as snow and sufficient temperature gradient metamorphism allows for high efficiency of the concentration process was confirmed. It was reported that the first 30% of the melted liquid volume contained over 90% of all impurities. It gives great opportunities to use this method to concentrate pollutants. The results revealed that the application of this process in full scale is possible. Significant agglomeration of solid particles was also noted. Tests with clay slurry showed that repeated freezing and thawing processes significantly improve the characteristics of slurry for sedimentation and filtration.
This paper presents simulation results of the consolidation process of the flotation waste landfill “Żelazny Most”. The mathematical model used in presented research is based on Biot’s model of consolidation and is extended with rheological skeleton. The load is the mass pressure of the landfill itself. The initial point selected for calculations was based on the ground water level calculated in a landfill. The creeping process in this waste landfill was analyzed along the north – south section. The solution is therefore 2D with the assumption of a plane strain state. Effective model parameters data were obtained in laboratory tests on the material from the waste landfill. Results obtained for a stress state in a storage state can help to determine whether the adopted linear model of visco-elastic medium does not lead to changes in the Coulomb – Mohr potential yield, showing the emergence of plasticity of material storage areas.