Now On-Demand! Identifying and Managing Elevated Temperature Landfills
ETLFs are landfills where gas wells exhibit elevated temperatures (> 131 oF) over an extended landfill area that are atypical of temperatures commonly associated with methanogenic biological waste degradation. Approximately 20 ETLFs have been encountered in North America, some with in-situ waste temperatures approaching 300 °F.
If you could not join us, we hope you will find value in this SCS Engineers’ interactive webinar about ETLFs. We welcome Dr. Craig Benson, who studies the phenomenon, and our expert solid waste and field engineers, who bring their expertise for a more rounded presentation.
Who Should Attend and What You’ll Learn?
At this session, you’ll get an update on the knowns and unknowns of ETLF conditions.
Our ETLF session is for landfill owners, operators, technicians, field personnel, engineers, and regulators interested in learning more and would like to engage with some of the foremost experts in the field.
SCS’s forums are educational, non-commercial webinars with a Q&A forum throughout; they are free and open to all who want to learn more about landfill operations and technology.
We encourage you to share this video.
SCS Engineers is hosting our 2023 Pennsylvnia Solid Waste Seminars on Tuesday, June 6 in Harrisburg, PA.
This half-day seminar is designed to provide updates on the latest regulatory, policy, and technological developments in the solid waste, landfill, landfill gas, and sustainable materials management industries. The sessions are presented by experienced SCS professionals, and continuing education units are available.
This year, our professionals will cover these important topics:
Lunch will be provided, followed by Disc Golf.
The seminar is intended for solid waste management professionals, landfill managers, waste/recycling managers, supervisors, and operators. For attendees already possessing solid waste management and disposal experience, topics will provide a fresh perspective and cover important regulatory and technological updates. For those new to the field, topics will cover essential information on various critical aspects of waste/ recycling program collections, transfer, processing, and disposal, as well as landfill development, operations, monitoring, and management
We look forward to seeing you there!
Hear from SCS Engineers experts at the ninth Global Waste Management Symposium in Indian Wells, California, February 25-28, 2024. SCS is also is a Silver Sponsor of the conference.
The GWMS serves as a forum to discuss applied and fundamental research, case studies and policy analysis on solid waste and materials management. The community of researchers, engineers, designers, academicians, students, facility owners and operators, regulators and policymakers will participate.
Numerous SCS Engineers experts will be on hand to discuss your solid waste management challenges, and several are presenting at the symposium, including:
The Environmental Research & Education Foundation (EREF) is a strategic partner of the symposium.
Click here for schedule, registration, and other conference details
Hope to see you there!
EREF, the Ohio EPA, and industry leaders will discuss the latest science, factors, and best practices around landfill instability. This session will include managing liquids and leachate and the practice of aqueous waste disposal in landfills.
The Summit will take place at the Marriott Columbus University Area in Columbus, Ohio, on September 1, 2021. As with many EREF events, this will likely fill to capacity quickly.
SCS Engineers President and CEO Jim Walsh will moderate the Elevated Temperature Landfills session. This informative session will include mechanisms contributing to elevated temperatures, modeling to predict and control those conditions, and monitoring and management. Mr. Walsh is well-regarded for his expertise with ETLF conditions. His firm, SCS Engineers, produces the technology used to monitor and manage over one-third of the landfills in the U.S., alerting operators of landfill conditions 24/7 in real-time.
About Jim Walsh: He is one of SCS’s National Experts on Elevated Temperature Landfills working at the forefront of sustainable solid waste management, sanitary landfills, and landfill gas (LFG) for more than 40 years. Mr. Walsh earned recognition as the Principal Investigator or Chief Engineer on over thirty dedicated landfill fire and elevated temperature landfill projects. He regularly guides landfill operators and the solid waste industry on how to avoid landfill fires. He has investigated landfill fires in-situ and developed management and mitigation programs to address landfill fires and related events when they do occur. He served on the Ohio EPA Committee to address landfill fires and elevated temperature landfills in the state and assisted in developing the Ohio EPA Guidance Document on the subject.
Landfill operators have known about elevated temperature conditions in landfills for nearly a decade. Some operators have already incurred numerous expenses to control adverse environmental and operational issues at these landfills, and some operators have set aside large amounts of money in their books to address future liabilities associated with such landfills. Due to the complexities of controlling elevated temperature conditions and the compliance issues arising from such conditions, it can force operators to temporarily, or permanently close their landfills.
Can design address elevated temperature conditions?
The operators of larger landfills have been monitoring and analyzing data to identify triggering factors, while others continue controlling the environmental impacts. Environmental Research & Education Foundation (EREF) initiated several research projects to identify the triggering factors with the excellent scientific work of highly qualified researchers. These are on-going projects.
In the meanwhile, operators of larger landfills are developing strategies, basing strategic-decisions on the data and conditions collected during operations over long periods. After analyses, they have the means to reduce the impacts by making changes in their operations and landfill designs. The most effective changes include eliminating certain waste types from the waste stream and improving the movement of liquid and gas through the waste column with new designs.
Are design innovations consistently implemented?
The pioneering designs feature preventative measures, intending to avert the formation of elevated temperature conditions in future disposal cells. Implementing these new design features requires careful consideration and functional analyses, as some of the recommendations can be costly, affecting the bottom line. The urgency in controlling compliance issues associated with elevated temperatures and the associated financial impacts of such conditions objectively prescribe that local managers work closely with their designers and field expertise to bring non-compliance issues under control.
Is this an executive risk management strategy?
Until the on-going research more clearly identifies the triggering factors and the means to prevent the development of elevated temperature conditions, it seems logical to invest in implementing preventative measures that are currently available. When more research results are accessible, then the local managers will be able to make decisions that are even more informed. Those wanting to address the likelihood of future liabilities proactively will need executive-level funding and superior technical support, all of which are possible.
Is there much sharing of newer designs and strategies within the solid waste industry?
Yes, there is a fair amount of collaboration among the technical community and within solid waste associations. Most operators share their preventative designs within the engineering community and help contribute to funded research. Their actions and results will help to strengthen an industry application until such time that research results and the means to prevent the development of elevated temperature conditions are well understood. We all know that progress in technology and science depends on sharing new knowledge.
Let’s continue with the combination of serious research, innovative designs, proactive operational changes, and sharing knowledge among our industry professionals that will lead to more precise solutions in the near future. Here are a few resources available now:
About the Author: Ali Khatami, Ph.D., PE, LEP, CGC, is a Project Director and a Vice President of SCS Engineers. He is also our National Expert for Elevated Temperature Landfills, plus Landfill Design and Construction Quality Assurance. He has nearly 40 years of research and professional experience in mechanical, structural, and civil engineering.
Learn more at Elevated Temperature Landfills
Typical Conditions
The organic matter that is placed in landfills goes through a decomposition process that is exothermic and releases heat inside the landfill space. There are also other exothermic processes such as metal corrosion, hydration, carbonation, and acid-base neutralization that contribute to the heat generation phenomenon in landfills. Municipal solid waste has a relatively low heat conductivity characteristic, which means the heat is not as easily conducted through the waste keeping the landfill interior generally warmer than the areas near the landfill exterior.
Landfills expel the heat in different ways; propagating through the waste mass to the air, ground, leachate, and gas heat sinks. The heat escapes the landfill at its boundaries by convection to the air above the landfill surface and by conduction to the ground below the waste. Heat can also escape from landfills through liquids and gases removed from the landfill. For example, by conduction, via leachate that flows through the waste and is removed by leachate sumps and by convection, and via gases generated inside the landfill that are removed through the gas collection system.
Special Conditions
The large majority of landfills in the country show no signs of special conditions indicating too much heat. The characteristics noted in this blog have been observed in a few large, deep, wet landfills. Field investigations at landfills with high temperatures revealed that the highest temperatures are generally located at mid-point to the two-thirds depth of waste from the top surface. Temperatures as high as 250 °F have been recorded by specialized measuring devices.
Under certain conditions, elevated temperatures may occur inside a landfill, and the excess heat changes the character of chemical reactions taking place in the landfill, such as the decomposition process of the organic matter. Other documented changes that may take place in accumulated heat conditions are: leachate becoming stronger with higher BOD, lower pH, higher carboxylic acids and salts; concentrations of certain acids increasing; carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide generation increasing; the ratio of methane to carbon dioxide decreasing; hydrogen generation increasing; landfill odors changing to a significantly pungent character; landfill settlement rates increasing; gas generation and gas pressure increasing; leachate generation increasing; along with other changes.
Research
Heat generation in landfills is studied by researchers, reported in technical literature and scientific papers by academia and the industry. A summary of the findings related to the amount of heat generated from municipal solid waste in landfills is presented in Table 1 of Heat Generation in Municipal Solid Waste Landfills posted on the California Polytechnic State University, Robert E. Kennedy Library website.
Since the issue of high temperatures in landfills is of extreme importance to landfill operators with respect to compliance, operations, and financial aspects of these cases, finding out the cause and sources of excess heat is a hot subject in the field of landfill science. The largest research grant supporting the on-going research in this field was awarded by the Environmental Research & Education Foundation (EREF) in December 2014. So far, three parts of a technical article explaining chemical mechanisms through which organic matter decomposes and generate various types of other chemicals and heat have been published by the researchers of the above grant in Waste360. The research is on-going, and more information will be published in future. Links to the first three parts of the above article are provided here:
Prevention, Diagnosing and Managing ETLFs
SCS was involved in the preparation of standards for large, deep and wet landfills for a major waste operator in 2016. The intent of the standards is to implement measures to prevent elevated temperature conditions in large, deep, and wet landfills. SCS’s experience at such landfills and its in-depth knowledge can be valuable to those waste operators who are either experiencing elevated temperature conditions in their landfills or want to prevent conditions forming in their landfills proactively.
About the Author: Dr. Ali Khatami
Join SCS Engineers at the Global Waste Management Symposium to learn more, or click these links read about our landfill and landfill gas to energy services, clients, and articles.
Contact a professional near you at .
Question: I have a small oxidation event at my landfill and am continually testing for carbon monoxide (CO) in the surrounding landfill gas (LFG) extraction wells. Using colorimetric tubes, I am monitoring the readings which range from 5-10 parts per million (ppm). Is there an accepted standard for background carbon monoxide in LFG? Moreover, how much inaccuracy is expected using the colorimetric tube testing?
Answer: Carbon monoxide (CO) can be found in small quantities even when there is no landfill fire. If your concern is landfill fire, most reputable resources state that a landfill fire generates readings of at least 100 ppm CO and more typically in the 500-1000 ppm range with 1000 ppm a reliable indicator that a landfill fire event may be present.
CO readings on colorimetric tubes are inherently less accurate and tend to run higher than laboratory results. Colorimetric tubes do provide value as a real-time indicator versus subsequent lab results, and can be used as an index reading, calibrated by lab results later. If you’ve had a landfill fire event before, with CO levels greater than 100 ppm, the lab confirmed 5-10 ppm CO could be residual left over from the earlier event.
Although some people believe that the presence of CO at almost any level is an indicator of landfill fire, recent laboratory tests show that CO can be generated at values up to and over 1000 ppm by elevating refuse temperatures without the presence of combustion (fire). Other tests have shown that high values of CO are found in some landfills with no current landfill fire and no indication of a past landfill fire. This information supports that it is possible that Elevated Temperature (ET) Landfills can have CO levels over 1000 ppm CO without the presence of combustion or landfill fire.
In the end, CO can be an indicator of landfill fire, but not always, as described here. Low methane, high carbon dioxide, and even landfill temperatures above 131 degrees F may or may not be indicators of past or current landfill fire. Physical indicators of a landfill fire may include rapid settlement in a localized area, cracks and fissures, smoke and flame, melted landfill gas system components, and char on the inside of LFG headers and blower/flare station components such as a flame arrester. However, most of these indicators can occur at ET landfills as well without the presence of fire or combustion.
A professional landfill gas engineer is needed to assess these conditions as a whole, and make a judgment on the underlying driver, condition, and resolution.
Have a question for our SCS Professional Engineers or Field Staff? Just ask here.
Landfill and Landfill Gas Services at SCS Engineers.
