REMEDIATION

ENGINEERING
FOR POLLUTED
ENVIRONMENT

Lecture note 1
Postgraduate in Environmental Enginering

Prof Sarwoko Mangkoedihardjo

26 August 2008 1
 Students are able to analyse, plan,
design, monitor and recommend
measures for remediation of
polluted environment.

26 August 2008 2
 • Class lectures are given by
lecturer: week 1 - 7
• Mid test: week 8
• Case study is presented by
students: week 9 - 16
• Final assignment - proposal
for research or technical
design: week 9 - 16
• Final test: organised by Dept.
of Environ. Eng.
26 August 2008 3
 Polluted environment means
environmental components such
as soil affected by a release of a
substance at a concentration
above the accepted
accepted limit for
such substance,
substance, bringing about
WHAT DOES
POLLUTED
malfunction of the environment.
environment.
E2VIRO2ME2T
MEA2?
MEA2 ?

26 August 2008 4
 The term remediation (the Latin
suffix "remedium
"remedium" " meaning to
WHAT DOES clean or restore) actually refers
REMEDIATIO2 to clean polluted
polluted environments.
environments.
MEA2?
MEA2?

26 August 2008 5
 Remediation means the
containment,
ontainment, removal,
mitigation
itigation,, or abatement of
pollution, a potential source of
pollution, or a substance which
poses a risk to human health or
WHAT DOES the environment, and includes
REMEDIATIO2
MEA2?
MEA2? but is not limited to the
reduction of pollution by
natural attenuation.

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 2atural attenuation means a
decrease in concentration of a
substance in ground water
through operation of natural
physical or chemical processes,
including but not limited to
WHAT DOES
REMEDIATIO2
adsorption, absorption, dilution,
MEA2?
MEA2? phase transfer, oxidation,
organic complexation,
complexation,
biodegradation, dispersion and
diffusion.
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 I. CO2TAI2ME2T
II. SEPARATIO2
III. DESTRUCTIO2

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 Containment in addition to
collection and diversion
technologies are used at sites
where treatment technologies
cannot control the contaminants
to an acceptable level. These
I. CO2TAI2ME2T engineering controls include
technologies that contain or
capture the contaminants to
reduce or minimize releases. This
section discusses some of the
containment technologies.
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 1. EXCAVATE A2D DISPOSE
• O2
O2--SITE LA2DFILL
I. CO2TAI2ME2T • OFF
OFF--SITE LA2DFILL

26 August 2008 10
 Landfills are waste management
units, typically dug into the earth,
but including above ground units
that are not exposed on the sides
(i.e., not freestanding waste piles),
that accept waste for permanent
placement and disposal. While
I. CO2TAI2ME2T landfilling is a conventional
disposal technology, it has had its
share of recent innovations.
Landfills may be lined to contain
leachate, drained with a leachate
collection system, and capped.
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 The cost of landfills can range
from medium to high at mining
and mineral processing sites
depending on the site conditions
that impact the design, including
low permeability cover, low
permeability liner, leachate
I. CO2TAI2ME2T collection, and leachate treatment.
The O&M costs of leachate
treatment or cap maintenance can
be significant. The effectiveness of
the landfill is dependent on the
design.
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 A landfill that can isolate the
waste is effective. Should the cap
or liner be breached, however, the
effectiveness will be greatly
diminished. On-site landfills
should be designed to meet site
I. CO2TAI2ME2T specific cleanup goals and address
applicable regulatory
considerations.

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 Introduction to Landfills

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 The Modern Landfill

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26 August 2008 16
 Leachate Collection System

Waste

Sand Drainage and

Protective Layer
Geotextile

Geomembrane Liner

Leachate
Clay Liner Coarse
Collection
Drainage
Pipe
Material

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 Leachate Collection System

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 Daily Cover

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 Final Cover

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 Stormwater Control
Direct surface water run-
off away from the
landfill

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 Stormwater Management

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 Leachate Treatment

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 Gas Wells

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 Gas Flares

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 Final Landfill Use

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 Landfill Processes

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 Degradable particulate organic material
(Proteins Carbohydrates and Lipids)

Hydrolysis
Inert Soluble

Amino Acids & Sugars Long chain fatty

acids

Fermentation of
Valerate, Butyrate,
Anaerobic
Amino acids & & Propionate Oxidation of
Sugars LCFA
Anaerobic
Oxidation of
Anaerobic Pathway Acids

Acetate Hydrogen

Acetotrophic Hydrogenotrophic
methanogenesis methanogenesis
Methane
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26 August 2008 29
 Stabilization Phases – Phase I: Initial
Adjustment
• Initial waste placement
• Preliminary moisture accumulation
• Initial subsidence
• Closure of landfill area

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 Stabilization Phases – Phase II:
Transition
• Field capacity exceeded
• Leachate formed
• Electron acceptor shifts from oxygen to
nitrates to sulfates
• Trend toward reducing conditions
• Volatile acids appear

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 Stabilization Phases – Phase III:Acid
Formation
• Volatile fatty acids predominate in leachate
• pH declines
• Substrate conversion occurs

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 Stabilization Phases – Phase
IV:Methane Fermentation
• Methane and carbon dioxide production
• pH at minimum
• Nutrient consumption
• Precipitation of metals
• Leachate BOD/COD declines

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 Stabilization Phases – Phase V:Final
Maturation
• Biological dormancy
• Nutrients limiting
• Gas production ceases
• Oxygen slowly reappears
• Humic substances produced

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 Importance of Leachate Quality and
Quantity Determination
• Design leachate collection systems
• Design leachate treatment facilities
• Determine acceptability of offsite treatment
• Estimate offsite migration potential

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 Factors Affecting Leachate Quality and
Quantity
• Particle size • Waste age
• Compaction • Landfill
• Waste composition design/operation
• Site Hydrology • Sampling procedures
• Cover Design • Interaction of leachate
with environment

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 BOD/COD Ratio
• Relative biodegradability of leachate
• Present for as long as 100 years
• Tends to decline following onset of methane
formation

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 Relative Biodegradability of Leachate

Bio-degradability BOD/COD

Low < 0.5

Medium 0.5 – 0.75

High > 0.75

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 Relative Biodegradability of Leachate
2ote that BOD/COD < 0.1
is:
•Toxic for BOD > 100 mg/L and COD > 500 mg/L
•Stable for BOD < 100 mg/L and COD < 500 mg/L

How to improve Toxic waste into Stable waste in

connection to biodegradability?
• Increase BOD/COD by means of phytotreatment
(or physiochemical processes) and subsequently
• Reduce BOD/COD by means of microbial process
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 Nitrogen/Phosphorus
• Indication of nutrient availability
• Phosphorus may be limiting nutrient
• Ammonia important buffer
• Nitrogen present for long periods of time
• May control length of post closure care period

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 pH
• Influence chemical and biological processes of
precipitation, redox, sorption, methanogenesis
• Controlled by volatile acids during acid phase
• After methanogenesis begins, controlled by
carbonates and ammonia
• Major factor in controlling metal solubility

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 Heavy Metals
• May act as inhibitors of biological stabilization
process
• Water quality concerns
• No discernable chronological pattern
• Leachate concentration controlled by sulfide,
carbonate, chloride, and phosphate

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 Leachate Treatment/Disposal
• On site
– biological
– chemical
– evaporative
– physical
• Off-site treatment

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 Leachate Collection Systems

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 Liner and LCS Design

• Select liner type

• Leachate flow rates (25-yr storm - 0.36 in/hr)
• Pipe spacing
• Pipe flow
• Pipe diameter
• Design filter

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26 August 2008 46
Waste Containment Liners

Waste
Leachate collection
Protection geotextile

Geomembrane

Geosynthetic Clay Liner

Subsoil

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 Liner Types
• Composite
– Soil (clay – 60 cm, 10-7cm/sec)
– Geosynthetic (1.5 mm)
– Geocomposite
• Double

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 Single Composite Liner

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 Double Geomembrane Liner

Geomembrane or GCL
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 Double Liner with Bottom
Geocomposite

Composite
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 Double Composite Liner

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 Materials in Liner system ~ Clay Liner

Low permeability soil

kd = 1 x 10-7 cm/sec t

Subgrade

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 Mass Transport of Contaminants
through Landfill Clay Liners

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 Solutes in saturated media can be transported
by three mechanisms
• Diffusion
• Advection
• Dispersion

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 Diffusion
• Diffusion controlled mass transport occurs if
the concentration of a species is greater in
one location than an adjacent location
(concentration gradient)
• Fick’s second law

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 Diffusion- Fick’s Second Law
∂c ∂ C 2
= Dd
Solution: ∂t ∂x 2

x
C ( x, t ) = Co erfc
2 D *t
C = the concentration at time t and distance x
Co = original concentration
x = distance
t = time
erfc = complimentary error function
D* = effective diffusion coefficient
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 Advection and Dispersion
• Solute transport by advection and dispersion
requires flow of leachate to carry solutes
along with liquid flow
• Equations describing advection and dispersion
are more complicated than diffusion.

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 Solution to Fick’s Law including Advection
and Dispersion

Co   L − vxt   v L   L + v t  
C= erfc  + exp x erfc
 
x 

2     
  2 DL t   DL   2 DL t 

C = the concentration at time t and distance x

Co = original concentration
L = distance
t = time
erfc = complimentary error function
D* = effective diffusion coefficient

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 vx = average linear velocity can be calculated from Darcy’s law

K dh
vx =
ne dl
K = hydraulic conductivity
ne = effective porosity
dh/dl = hydraulic gradient

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 Example
Assume landfill A contains Na+1 = 10,000 mg/l and Ca+2
= 5,000 mg/l and assume landfill B contains Fe+2 =
750 mg/l and Cr+3 = 600 mg/l. Landfill A has a 6 m
clay liner under the waste and landfill B has 3 m of
clay under the waste. Assuming diffusion is the only
process affecting solute transport, which of the four
species will break through the clay layer in either of
the landfills first? How long will that take?

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 Given

Waste Waste

Clay 3m
Clay 6m
Land fill B
Land fill A
Given: Effective diffusion coefficients D*:
Species D* (m2/sec)
Na+1 1.33E-09
Ca+2 7.05E-10
Fe2+ 7.19E-10
Cr3+ 5.94E-10
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 Solution
The erfc (z) function has non-zero values only at
z values less than 3. To solve this problem
assume times and calculate at edge of clay
layer for each case and keep changing the
time until z has a value of 3.

26 August 2008 63
 Assume Time is 5 years

x
C ( x, t ) = Co erfc
2 D *t
Clay D*
Species layer (m) Conc (mg/l) (m2/sec) X/2((D*t)^0.5)

Na+1 6 10000 1.33E-09 6.550992898

Ca+2 6 5000 7.05E-10 8.997842576

Fe2+ 3 750 7.19E-10 4.454905626

Cr3+ 3 600 5.94E-10 4.901282453

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 Increase Time to 10 Years

Clay layer Concentration

Species (m) (mg/l) D* (m2/sec) X/2((D*t)^0.5)

Na+1 6 10000 1.33E-09 4.632251502

Ca+2 6 5000 7.05E-10 6.362435502

Fe2+ 3 750 7.19E-10 3.150093978

Cr3+ 3 600 5.94E-10 3.465730059

26 August 2008 65
 Increase Time to 12 Years

Clay layer Concentration X/2((D*t)^0.

Species (m) (mg/l) D* (m2/sec) 5)

Na+1 6 10000 1.33E-09 4.228647732

Ca+2 6 5000 7.05E-10 5.808082408

Fe2+ 3 750 7.19E-10 2.875629216

Cr3+ 3 600 5.94E-10 3.163764219

Fe+2 will break through first

26 August 2008 66
 Decrease Time to 11 Years

D*
Clay layer Concentratio (m2/se X/2((D*t)^0.
Species (m) n (mg/l) c) 5)

Na+1 6 10000 1.33E-09 4.416678511

Ca+2 6 5000 7.05E-10 6.066344227

Fe2+ 3 750 7.19E-10 3.00349676

Cr3+ 3 600 5.94E-10 3.304443956

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 Geomembrane

A planar, relatively impermeable, polymeric

(synthetic) sheet with a minimum thickness of 1.0
mm. In landfill applications they are most
commonly of HDPE with a thickness of > 1.0 mm.
The surface can be smooth

, profiled
 or
textured
 and can be of importance for the shear
behaviour.
26 August 2008 68
 Geosynthetic Clay Liner (GCL)
 

 

An assembled structure of geosynthetic materials and low hydraulic

conductivity earth materials (usually bentonite). The clay layer is
encapsulated between geosynthetics (cover and carrier geotextile) or
bonded
 to a geosynthetic.
Shear force transferring GCLs are needle-punched  or stitchbonded
.
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 Leachate Collection System

26 August 2008 70
 Plants/Trees are provided
at landfill site!

26 August 2008 71
 Drain design configurations

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 Leachate Collection System with Sloped Subgrade

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 Pipe Spacing

Hmax
Slope
Collection pipe
beta
b/2

26 August 2008 74
Spatial Distribution of Head (EPA Guidance)

 q 
H max
= cos β  2
tan β + i 
- tan β 

X 2 

k 

Where:
Hmax = maximum leachate head, L
X = distance between leachate collection pipes, L
β = angle of liner slope, dimensionless
qi = leachate impingement rate, LT-1
k = hydraulic conductivity of the leachate
collection layer material, LT-1
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 Giroud’s Equation

tan β +4q / k
− tan β
2 i
Hmax

2cosβ
=
X

26 August 2008 76
Spacing Between Pipes Using a Geonet

2
qL
θ reqd =
4h max + 2Lsinα
θreqd = transmissivity of geonet, L2T-1
L = distance between collection pipes, L
hmax = maximum head on liner, L
q = infiltration from a 25 year 24 hour storm, LT-1
α = slope of drainage system, degrees

26 August 2008 77
 Leachate Removal System

Waste

Sand Drainage and

Protective Layer
Geotextile

Geomembrane Liner

Leachate
Clay Liner Coarse
Collection
Drainage
Pipe
Material

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 Pipe flow

Qin pipe = q b L

Where:
q = Infiltration rate, ft/sec
b = pipe spacing, ft
L = length of pipe, ft
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 Pipe Diameter
• Assume pipe is flowing full
• Use Manning Equation
• check velocity is sufficient (>2 fps)
• Diameter is commercially available (not 3.2
in!)

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 Leachate Collection – Double Liner

26 August 2008 81
 Leachate Collection Pump

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 Causes of Leachate Collection System
Failure
• Clogging due to particulate transport/chemical
precipitation
• Clogging due to biological material buildup
• Pipe breakage/slope change

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 Biological Clogging
• Bacteria secret extra cellular polysaccharides
to form gelatinous matrix or biofilm
• Biofilm acts as a filter within filter, trapping
particles

26 August 2008 84
 Chemical Precipitation
• Metals are mobilized in leachate
• Carbonates and sulfides present in anaerobic
environment lead to metal precipitation
• Little silts or other fines
• Primary threat during acidic phases
• Opening size critical factor

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 Implications of LCS Failure
• Excess head on liner
• Increased risk associated with potential liner
failure
• Side seeps
• Reduced leachate output
• Landfill instability

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 LCS Failure Contributors
• Carbonate in drainage rock/leachate
interaction
• Geotextile-wrapped collection pipes
• Slope change due to settling and compression
of subgrade
• Crushed pipe

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 LCS Failure Contributors - Cont’d
• Overhandling of drainage material -
production of fines
• Creep/clogging of geonets
• Adverse leachate pH
• Change in partial pressure of CO2

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 Clogging Prevention
• Proper filter design
– Use of safety factors
– Proper placement
• Proper selection of materials

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 Landfill Closure Issues

26 August 2008 90
 Closure Topics
• Caps
• Geotechnical Issues
• Stormwater Management
• Monitoring
• Post-closure care

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 Final Cover – Water Movement

26 August 2008 92
 Waste Containment Caps/Covers

Cover soil
Geosynthetic drainage

Geomembrane

Geosynthetic Clay Liner

Gas collection

Gas collection
Geotextile

Waste

Common containment regulations require different cap/cover sealing

systems for nonhazardous and hazardous containments.

26 August 2008 93
 Many Alternative Caps
• Capillary barriers (sand and gravel become water barriers!)
Clay covers (historically the most used, likely the least
dependable)
• Composite covers with soil and vegetation
• Single-barrier covers (geomembrane or GCL) with soil and
erosion protection
• Exposed geomembrane covers
• Water-balance soil covers (with and without capillary breaks

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 Exposed Geomembrane Covers
• Decreased
construction cost
• Decreased
maintenance
• No swales needed for
stormwater control
• Increased slope
stability
• Easy to inspect and
repair

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 Exposed Geomembrane Covers - Concerns

• Wind uplift
• UV exposure
• Runoff
• Chaffing and other mechanical abrasion
• Penetrations
• Birds

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 What impacts closure design and
construction?

• Settlement
• Leachate seeps
• LFG generation
• LFG vents
• Stormwater management

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 Geotechnical Considerations
• Critical points
– soil/geosynthetic and geosynthetic/geosynthetic interfaces
– Slopes
• Analysis requires computer analysis
– Need geotechnical properties of landfill elements
• Increased moisture content can lead to instability
• Side slopes < 1:3 recommended, textured
geomembranes, proper drainage in cover, gas
collection

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 Stormwater Management

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 Stormwater Retention
• Florida Regulations -
– must collect and detain runoff from first 1” of
rainfall (for > 100 acres, 0.5” for < 100 acres)
– detain for 24 hrs.

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 Stormwater Control
Direct surface water run-
off away from the
landfill

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 Monitoring
• Leachate head within landfill
• leakage through landfill liner (groundwater)
• ambient air quality
• gas
• leachate quality
• stability of final cover

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 Minimum Groundwater Monitoring
One line of three (minimum) well down gradient
from landfill perpendicular to groundwater
flow, penetrating entire saturated thickness of
aquifer (1/250 ft of landfill frontage at
boundary of site or at surface water)

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 Minimum Groundwater Monitoring
• One well immediately adjacent to
downgradient edge of filled area at point
where leachate plume meets GW. Screened
to intercept water table
• one well in area upgradient from landfill

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 Monitoring wells

Groundwater
Direction

Landfill

26 August 2008 105

 Monitoring Wells

Landfill

Water Table

Confining Unit

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 Closure
• financial assurance criteria
– estimate cost of closure/post closure care
– demonstrate financial assurance
• cash
• irrevocable letter of credit
• trust funds with licensed trust company or state
• surety bonds

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 Post closure
• 30 years
• maintain integrity of cover
• maintain LCS
• monitor GW
• maintain gas monitoring system

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 Thoughts on Post-Closure
• 30-years may not be the right time
• Can one ever “walk away”?
• Must have a risk based approach to end

26 August 2008 109

 The End of Post-closure Care
• Regulatory-stipulate 30 years is arbitrary
• No clearly defined process on how to exit
post-closure care period

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