34
2 Conventional Approaches for Waste Management …
Table 2.2 Examples of large
landfills in Canada.
Regenerated with permission
from [19]
Landfill site name Landfill site owner
Location
Robin Hood Bay City of St. John’s
St. John’s,
Newfoundland
Bestan Inc
Canadian Waste
Services
Magog, Quebec
Trail Waste
Management
Facility
City of Ottawa
Nepean, Ontario
Mohawk Landfill City of Brantford
Brantford, Ontario
Hartland Landfill
site
Capital Regional
District
Victoria, British
Columbia
Table 2.3 Examples of
bioreactor landfills in Canada.
Regenerated with permission
from [19]
Landfill site name Landfill site owner
Location
Ste. Sophie
Landfill
Intersan (Canadian
Waste Services)
Ste. Sophie,
Quebec
Lafleche Landfill
Site
Lafleche
Environment Inc
North Stormont,
Ontario
The decomposition of the wastes in the landfill site can be accelerated from
decades (50 years) to years (10–15 years) by using bioreactor landfills. Bioreactor
landfills are new concepts and are designed to accelerate the decomposition of organic
wastes by promoting conditions for the microorganisms that degrade the waste materials by the addition of liquid and air [21]. This will result in the rapid stabilization of the wastes and shortens the landfill site’s contamination lifespan. Table 2.3
presents some examples of bioreactor landfills in Canada. There are three types of
bioreactor landfills namely aerobic, anaerobic and hybrid (aerobic-anaerobic). In
aerobic landfills, oxygen or air is injected into the waste mass to promote aerobic
activity. Leachate is removed from the bottom layer, stored in storage tanks, and
then added through leachate recirculation as an additional source of moisture. In
anaerobic landfills, moisture is added in the form of leachate recirculation to obtain
optimum moisture levels. Degradation of organics occurs in the absence of oxygen
and produces landfill gas, composed of mostly methane. The produced gas can be
captured by gas collection systems for energy generation [21, 22]. Hybrid landfills
employ sequential aerobic and anaerobic treatments, accelerate the degradation of
organics in the upper levels, and gas collection from lower levels of landfill [22].
The addition of leachate to the landfills usually results in the accumulation of high
levels of ammonia. A specific facultative bioreactor design was patented in the US
aiming to control the ammonia accumulation developed in landfills. In this process,
the ammonia in leachate is nitrified to nitrate. The treated leachate is then added to
the anaerobic landfill and the nitrate in the leachate is consumed by the facultative
bacteria through the denitrification process to produce nitrogen gas (N 2 ), which is
then removed from the system [21].
2 Conventional Approaches for Waste Management …
Table 2.2 Examples of large
landfills in Canada.
Regenerated with permission
from [19]
Landfill site name Landfill site owner
Location
Robin Hood Bay City of St. John’s
St. John’s,
Newfoundland
Bestan Inc
Canadian Waste
Services
Magog, Quebec
Trail Waste
Management
Facility
City of Ottawa
Nepean, Ontario
Mohawk Landfill City of Brantford
Brantford, Ontario
Hartland Landfill
site
Capital Regional
District
Victoria, British
Columbia
Table 2.3 Examples of
bioreactor landfills in Canada.
Regenerated with permission
from [19]
Landfill site name Landfill site owner
Location
Ste. Sophie
Landfill
Intersan (Canadian
Waste Services)
Ste. Sophie,
Quebec
Lafleche Landfill
Site
Lafleche
Environment Inc
North Stormont,
Ontario
The decomposition of the wastes in the landfill site can be accelerated from
decades (50 years) to years (10–15 years) by using bioreactor landfills. Bioreactor
landfills are new concepts and are designed to accelerate the decomposition of organic
wastes by promoting conditions for the microorganisms that degrade the waste materials by the addition of liquid and air [21]. This will result in the rapid stabilization of the wastes and shortens the landfill site’s contamination lifespan. Table 2.3
presents some examples of bioreactor landfills in Canada. There are three types of
bioreactor landfills namely aerobic, anaerobic and hybrid (aerobic-anaerobic). In
aerobic landfills, oxygen or air is injected into the waste mass to promote aerobic
activity. Leachate is removed from the bottom layer, stored in storage tanks, and
then added through leachate recirculation as an additional source of moisture. In
anaerobic landfills, moisture is added in the form of leachate recirculation to obtain
optimum moisture levels. Degradation of organics occurs in the absence of oxygen
and produces landfill gas, composed of mostly methane. The produced gas can be
captured by gas collection systems for energy generation [21, 22]. Hybrid landfills
employ sequential aerobic and anaerobic treatments, accelerate the degradation of
organics in the upper levels, and gas collection from lower levels of landfill [22].
The addition of leachate to the landfills usually results in the accumulation of high
levels of ammonia. A specific facultative bioreactor design was patented in the US
aiming to control the ammonia accumulation developed in landfills. In this process,
the ammonia in leachate is nitrified to nitrate. The treated leachate is then added to
the anaerobic landfill and the nitrate in the leachate is consumed by the facultative
bacteria through the denitrification process to produce nitrogen gas (N 2 ), which is
then removed from the system [21].