landfill gas

January 29, 2024

Join SCS Engineers professionals, including our National Landfill Expert, Betsy Powers, for the Solid Waste Landfill Design Course, April 1-3 at the Pyle Center in Madison, WI.

During the course you will have the opportunity to learn about the critical factors of solid waste landfill design, operations, evolving industry issues, and economics. Learn from expert and diverse course faculty (top-flight researchers, owners at the cutting edge of evolving practice, industry experts). Get a firm grasp of the background and design specifics to compete in this industry, including industry-leading information on the principles and practices of solid waste landfill development, design, construction, operations, and management. Understand practical emerging technologies including:

  • Financial Management of Solid Waste Systems and Airspace Management
  • Polymer-Based Bentonite Composites in Geosynthetic Clay Liners
  • Landfill Gas Containment and Management for Emission Control and Regulatory Drivers
  • Value-Added Design of Gas-to-Energy and Gas-to-Fuel Projects
  • Waste Relocation and Expansion
  • Evolving Issues with “Hot” Landfills
  • The Latest in Geosynthetic Products for Geoenvironmental Engineering
  • Performance-Based and Life Cycle-Based Design 
Betsy Powers, PE, SCS Engineers

Senior Project Manager/Civil Engineer, Betsy Powers will be presenting on Landfill Drainage and Runoff Control including, runoff amounts,
open channel flow and culverts, and sedimentation/detention basins

This course will guide you through the development process of a successful solid waste landfill, from cradle to grave. Industry experts will share critical factors and insights. Interactive discussion and idea exchange will be emphasized. Click to learn more and enroll today.

 

 

Posted by Brianna Morgan at 9:35 am

November 2, 2022

SCS Engineers Landfill Methane Capture

 

The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) is working to develop a new regulation aimed at reducing methane emissions from municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills in the state. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas (GHG) with a global warming potential over 25 times greater than carbon dioxide. The new requirements MDE is considering are modeled after similar rules in California and Oregon and would become among the most stringent in the US. MDE anticipates publication of the draft rule in December 2022, followed by public participation and finalization of the rule in the spring of 2023.

This proposed rulemaking has been several years in development and is consistent with Maryland’s GHG Reduction Act of 2009 and the recent Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022 that requires Maryland to become “net zero” for GHG emissions by 2045, with an interim goal of achieving 60% GHG reductions by 2031 (over 2006 levels). MDE estimates that once implemented; this rule could result in up to a 50% reduction in GHG emissions from affected landfills.

MDE presented initial details about the draft regulation (aka, the state plan) at the October 24, 2022, Air Quality Control Advisory Council and stakeholder meeting. The proposed rule would apply to smaller and mid-sized landfills. It would likely impact many facilities not currently subject to the EPA’s federal landfill air regulations under NSPS & EG 40 CFR 60 Subparts Cf and XXX and NESHAP CFR 63 Subpart AAAA. MDE estimates that 32 active and closed MSW landfills in the state will be subject to the proposed regulation.

SCS Engineers is tracking the proposed rule closely, so stay tuned for additional details once the draft rule is published.

For additional information on MSW regulations and GHG emission reductions, please visit scsengineers.com or one of SCS’s nationwide offices.

 

About the Author: Joshua Roth, PE, is a Vice President and Project Director with the Landfill Gas (LFG) Group in the SCS Reston, VA office. He has served on a number of LFG engineering projects involving LFG remediation system design, emissions inventories and air permitting, migration and odor control, ambient air sampling and reporting, LFG and CER due diligence projects, GHG emission mitigation and reporting, field sampling and assessments, and general emissions control projects.

 

 

 

 

 

Posted by Diane Samuels at 3:23 pm

October 24, 2022

SCS Engineers Environmental Consulting and Contracting
SCS Engineers Tim Flanagan, James Law, Deji Fawole, and Alex Stege (SWEET expert) proudly participate in ISWA 2022 and release of case studies, reports, and the tool SWEET that can benefit the world.

 

Using the Solid Waste Emissions Estimation Tool (SWEET), in 2020, International Solid Waste Association’s (ISWA) Task Force on Closing Dumpsites completed a study of waste sector short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Tyre Caza, Lebanon. SWEET model runs used data on municipal solid waste (MSW) generation, collection, disposal, and diversion under existing and potential alternative management scenarios proposed in an Integrated Waste Management Plan (IWMP) for Tyre Caza. Waste sector emissions reductions exceeding 45% of baseline levels are achievable by 2030 if all dumpsites are closed and remediated, waste burning is stopped, and a new sanitary landfill is developed with 60% methane collection and combustion. Additional emissions reduction accrues from implementing the IWMP and upgrading existing waste treatment facilities to increase waste diversion rates from current levels (22%, including informal sector recycling) to 40%. Estimates of all of Lebanon’s waste sector emissions using SWEET were developed for this mini-review article using published data on the amounts of MSW collected, disposed, and diverted, with adjustments to account for indirect GHG reductions from composting and anaerobic digestion (AD). A 50% reduction in emissions from baseline levels can be achieved by 2034 if, by 2025 diversion of collected wastes to recycling, composting, and AD facilities are increased from 14% to 28%, and all residual MSW is disposed of in sanitary landfills with 65% methane recovery.

Conclusion: SWEET allows solid waste planners to compare emissions resulting from implementing different programs and to quantify the effectiveness of available waste management options in reducing emissions of GHGs and air pollutants. Full article access is on Sage Journals.

About SWEET: SWEET was developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the auspices of the Global Methane Initiative and in support of the CCAC. Abt Associates and SCS Engineers supported the development of SWEET. SWEET provides estimates for the full suite of GHG and air pollutant emissions in the waste sector, including methane, black carbon, CO2, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, particulates, and organic carbon (CCAC, 2018). Emissions estimates are provided for the following sources: (1) waste collection and transportation, (2) open burning of waste, (3) landfills and open dumps, (4) organic waste management facilities (composting and anaerobic digesters), (5) waste-to-energy facilities and (6) waste handling equipment. Note that emissions from fuel and waste combustion are the only CO2 emissions included in SWEET’s calculations, which exclude biogenic CO2 emissions from waste disposal sites. Published reports by the US EPA (e.g., EPA, 1998, 2015), Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (e.g., IPCC, 2006), and other sources (e.g., SCS Engineers, 2007, 2009; United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), 2004) were used to develop calculation methods and emissions factors for the waste sector emissions sources. CO2e conversions use a 100-year Global Warming Potential (GWP). The black carbon GWP is 900 (Bond et al., 2013).

 

Posted by Diane Samuels at 6:00 am

September 28, 2022

Meet SCS Engineers professionals and visit us at BOOTH 111 at SWANA’s SOAR (Sustainability, Operations, Action, Resources) Conference, April 17-20, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.

SWANA’s new premier technical spring conference, themed “Technical Solutions for Resource Management,” will bring together industry professionals from ALL disciplines of the resource management community.  Hear presentations by SCS professionals, including

Kelli Farmer: “From Drilling to Digesting: An Aerobic Digestion Feasibility Study” [Wed, April 19 (9:00 am – 9:45 am)]

Daniel DietchDaniel Dietch (co-presenting with Kanika Greenlee, City of Atlanta, and Craig Wittig of The Recycling Partnership): “How Did Atlanta Do That: Improving Recycling Access, Participation, and Program Resiliency” [Wed, April 19 (10:00 am – 10:45 am)]

Nathan Hamm (co-presenting with Nathan Mayer of Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County and Manuel Hernandez (formerly of SCS) of Progressive Environmental Services): “Leachate Treatment and System Maintenance Issues” [Wed, April 19 (10:00 am – 10:45 am)]

Join professionals in Collection & Transfer, Landfill Gas & Biogas, Landfill Management, Waste Conversion & Energy Recovery, and Sustainable Materials Management at this enhanced and productive technical summit.  Spend a few days diving deep into technical education, developing new business connections at networking events and joining game-changing conversations with experts in North America.  Most importantly, you’ll leave SOAR with actionable, fact-based solutions to implement in your facilities.

Delivering practical solutions to the solid waste industry’s most difficult problems, SWANA SOAR showcases the promising technologies, ideas, and solutions that transform waste into a resource. As SWANA’s premier technical conference, SOAR connects experts and problem solvers in industry-changing conversations about your most complex challenges.

Click for more details and registration information

 

Posted by Diane Samuels at 10:06 am

June 16, 2022

SCS Landfill OM&M
Modern landfills take a holistic approach to landfill operations and monitoring to control gas emissions and produce renewable energy. As shown here, Yolo County uses biocover made of finished compost and a cement-clay-fiber composite to seal the surface. These strategies with landfill technology (inset) and engineered systems to control liquids and gases better allow biogas capture for renewable energy and a lower carbon footprint.

 

SCS Engineers is providing landfill gas (LFG) systems operations, monitoring, design, and management for the Yolo County Central Landfill (YCCL). SCS Field Services is SCS’s specialized landfill practice, providing operations, maintenance, and monitoring (Landfill OM&M) for Yolo County and over 600 landfills across the nation.

SCS Field Services identifies practical strategies to optimize the performance of landfill gas (LFG) systems and equipment while working on site. Optimized systems capture more gas.

Project Manager Mike Calmes leads the comprehensive team at YCCL, which has five closed waste management units, five active waste management units, and one under construction. Closed landfills continue generating gas, so active or closed, they all require oversight by these landfill specialists.

“The County understands the importance of preventative strategies using captured landfill data to create sustainable environmental controls. These keep landfills running as efficiently as possible and safely within regulatory compliance,” said Anton Z. Svorinich Jr., SCS Engineers Vice President, Regional OM&M Manager.

 

To learn more about landfill operations and engineering, visit SCS Engineers.

 

 

 

 

 

Posted by Diane Samuels at 6:00 am

May 11, 2022

 

Landfills across the country are experiencing a trend ─ black goo, pluggage, and scaling in their leachate and gas collection systems. These organic and inorganic deposits are difficult to treat once they’ve seeped into liquid and GCCS systems, the pluggage slows equipment and pipes, impacting the extraction of liquids and landfill gas.

Our team of engineers, scientists, and landfill-landfill gas operations experts will provide a comprehensive discussion in May of what we are seeing and piloting in the field.

Live on Thursday, May 19, 2022

2:00 pm Eastern Time for 1 hour

Register to receive on-demand access following the live forum.

 

 

Prevent chemical deposits and pluggage before your pipes slow landfill gas and leachate collection.

This educational, non-commercial webinar with a Q&A forum throughout is free and open to all who want to learn more about landfill pluggage concerns and preventative treatments to consider. We recommend this month’s discussion for landfill owners/operators, landfill gas technicians, environmental engineers, and environmental agency staff. A Certificate of Attendance is available on request following the live session.

 

 

 

Posted by Diane Samuels at 6:00 am

May 2, 2022

chemical deposits clog landfill systems preventing efficient collection

 

Our panelists this month discuss best practices for identifying, treating, and possibly even preventing chemical deposits (black goo, scaling, foaming) before and after they occur within your infrastructure. We’ll also include what landfill field operations can do to identify and treat conditions that appear symptomatic of possible future issues.

No one has all the answers ─ each site’s conditions are unique. Our team of engineers, scientists, and landfill-landfill gas operations experts will provide a comprehensive discussion in May of what we are seeing and piloting in the field.

Live on Thursday, May 19, 2022

2:00 pm Eastern Time for 1 hour

 

 

Prevent chemical deposits (black goo, scaling, foaming) bofore your pipes plug or slow landfill gas and leachate collection. RSVP to receive a copy of the recording for on-demand access.

 

 

 

Posted by Diane Samuels at 6:00 am

April 27, 2022

 

It isn’t often that you have the oppotunity to have a full bench of experts at your disposal for free. At SCS, it happens monthly. Join us for our next free forum covering sticky situations that clog your landfill gas and leachate pipes. Keep the gas and liquids flowing with our scientists, engineers, and field experts. Ask questions anonymously for privacy, and learn the latest strategies for preventing and mitigating pluggage.

Live on Thursday, May 19, 2022

2:00 pm Eastern Time for 1 hour 

 

 

 

Posted by Diane Samuels at 3:41 pm

February 7, 2022

SCS Engineers Reno county facilities
New Reno County scalehouse and support facilities to be completed in 2022. Design by SCS Engineers and Mann & Co. Architects.

 

The Reno County Board of Commissioners approved contracting with SCS Engineers to support the County’s Solid Waste Department through 2024. SCS will provide environmental engineering, consulting, and field services for the Reno County Municipal Solid Waste Facilities for the next three years. The contract approval directly resulted from the firm’s experience, expertise, and long-standing relationship with Reno County.

SCS has a history of providing compliance, planning, and engineering services to Reno County. The firm helps the County continually comply with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) and other agency regulations. Compliance activities throughout the year include groundwater and leachate sampling, laboratory analyses, permit renewals, air permitting, and associated report preparation in accordance with Kansas Administrative Regulations.

Landfills contain complex systems to protect the health of nearby communities and the environment. The County uses SCS professionals’ expertise and proprietary software for air quality and gas collection and control systems (GCCS) operations, monitoring, and maintenance (OMM). Reno County relies on SCS to maintain these systems and keep them in compliance to focus on their other operations.

These preventative services keep the landfills fully compliant with state and federal regulatory requirements while aligned with the County’s system performance goals and anticipated operational and maintenance activities.

In 2021 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) changed legislation regulating landfills, specifically the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) and other air quality regulations. These changes significantly increased the monitoring, record-keeping, data management, and reporting tasks for many landfills across the nation, including the Reno County Facility. SCS has helped Reno County navigate these changes and will continue to facilitate changes as the County looks to expand its landfill in the future. Combined with the supply chain and labor shortages, the Solid Waste Department is securing its essential services from disruptions.

Steve Linehan – 2020 Waste360 40-Under-40 Recipient

Project Director Steve Linehan said, “SCS is privileged that Reno County entrusts us to partner with them to maintain the landfills’ safe and efficient operations. The Solid Waste Department supports the citizens and the environment; we’re honored to help.”

 

 

 

 

 

Posted by Diane Samuels at 10:41 am

November 9, 2021

 

SCSeTools® – Developed by Landfill Gas Practitioners for Landfill Owners and Operators

The Birth of LFG Data Tracking

In the early 2000s tracking landfill gas data at facilities was anything but uniform, organized, or secure. The industry was using various methods to track data on paper forms and logbooks, then transferring it by hand into spreadsheets. Some of us used desktop database applications, but as the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention.

From an SCS employee’s idea for demonstrating how to use landfill gas monitoring data to analyze and pinpoint system corrections, SCS DataServices® was born. In the span of several months, a team of SCS’s landfill engineers, field technicians, and technology gurus worked with client-needs to create a concept application visualizing collected landfill data on maps. Our staff field-tested it with good results, and SCS Field Services began using the application to visualize issues with wellfields that aren’t readily apparent when looking at spreadsheets.

A large SCS landfill client had seen our field staff using DataServices, asked if SCS would consider providing them with access to the application on a subscription basis. Our team adapted DataServices, added features, and continued improvements tailored for the client’s use.

As soon as secure data transfer became feasible, SCS moved to an Internet-based solution for our landfill gas practitioners. The platform called SCSeTools® holds the data collected by SCS DataServices®.

Applications and features roll out as we continually update and upgrade, incorporating ideas and improvements from our users and staff along the way. DataServices is addressing the landfill gas management needs of over 600 landfills across the US and Canada in 2021.

The keys to success follow our mission and values of maintaining close communications with our clients, field staff, engineers, and eTools support staff (all landfill gas practitioners), with the help of software engineers. Technology companies are not up at night thinking about landfill operations, but we are.

We introduce our SCS eTools landfill technology capabilities and a few of the creative and talented SCSers behind the technology in the next segment. Our speakers walk you through demonstrations of how over one-third of the landfill owners and operators in North America are increasing efficiencies using SCS eTools.

 

Visualizing Landfill Challenges – Shortcuts to Keeping Your Wellfield in Balance

DataServices shows the entire wellfield for any monitored parameters and zooms in on troublesome areas or wells. Results can be as simple or detailed as the landfill owners’ environmental and business needs dictate. The detailed examples here illustrate how graphs, maps, and charts help keep the wellfield in balance. We link each challenge to the description of a video demonstration.

In balance means extracting more gas for renewable energy, preventing odors and methane migration, keeps subsurface and surface conditions and workers safe. The information can help diagnose equipment conditions before they become costly, maintain regulatory compliance, and support cost estimates if the landfill is expanding or more infrastructure investment or equipment is needed.

Looking at vacuum distribution across a gas collection system – Select the system pressure map, which highlights vacuum distribution across the wellfield to show the wells with good (expected) vacuum, pressure drop over distance, and any wells unexpectantly losing vacuum.  Zooming in and changing the vacuum ranges further enhances where to assign staff to troubleshoot any identified issues.

Using a methane distribution map shows whether the wells are tuned to where the landfill owner wants them. Wells may be identified below the targeted range, indicating slight over pulling; a technician can use this map to identify such issues and quickly check the identified wells. Wells identified above the desired methane tuning range indicate wells not collecting enough gas, which has consequences. These wells can be the source of odors, leachate seeps, possible lateral migration to an out of waste probe. Not sending enough fuel to a power plant or atmospheric releases can affect surface emissions monitoring.

Managing liquids – Changing waste streams and more rainfall in certain areas of the country complicates liquids management. DataServices visualizes the impacts of liquids on wells and helps landfill owners better manage a proper liquids removal program.  The program will let them know how many pumps to budget for and, over time, where to relocate well dewatering pumps so that they are most efficient at removing liquids from landfills.

High-BTU Gas Plants –Filter maps help users locate wells contributing to gas dilution into renewable energy plants. It can help create punch lists for landfill staff to investigate, troubleshoot and tune. As wellfield technicians make corrections, they show on the map in real-time.

Temperature and subsurface oxidation events – Some call the condition subsurface fires, but this is a serious issue for landfills. Over-pulling wells, damaged infrastructure, and other conditions can cause oxidation events. Using a combination of temperature Parameter Maps to review wellhead temperature distribution and a Points Chart feature provides a deeper dive into the data. It provides more insight into which well or wells may be contributing to the high-temperature issues.

Locating a specific well – That’s not so easy when hundreds of wells surround you and at larger landfills. DataServices had built-in filter features to identify a single monitoring point on a wellfield map easily.

Customizing for compliance, best practices, and rules – DataServices allows monitoring points across a single site to have customized rules for each monitoring point. Rules can be for regulatory purposes, standard operating procedures, best management practices, and even site-specific preferences or any combination thereof. It is efficient to customize rule application to landfills and collection points – meaning wells, probes or ports, horizontal collectors. This customization capability helps organize and confirm regulatory compliance. It is especially salient with the 2021 EPA and state compliance changes for a single landfill or an organization with hundreds of landfills.

MobileForms – Inspection forms, blower flare station monitoring forms, load tracking from municipalities, incoming hazardous waste tracking, MRF bale counts are examples of paperless entry available. The data feeds directly from mobile phones to the supervisor and into the maintenance department, so staff can start cataloging and looking at what’s going on in real-time at several types of facilities. It’s available for regulators and inspections and helps reduce staff hours tabulating and centralizing the information.  Any information historically captured on a form or log attached to a clipboard can now be captured and stored electronically.  From there, it can be recovered and produced as a PDF export file or data from the forms used to trend data and help make informed operational decisions.

MobileTools – DataServices in a condensed format suitable for mobile devices. Field staff use MobileTools to save time formerly used to return to the office, transfer/transcribe the collected data and upload it to a supervisor for quality checks before storage.  Technicians can now recall the last 20 readings for any given well and review trend graphs on their phones or tablets while standing adjacent to the well they have questions about and need to access the data.  MobileTools also allows them to upload field data such as liquid level readings while the data is being collected.  The information instantly populates into DataServices and is available for review by others on the project team.

The most valuable tools are in development now for release in 2022. ARC GIS integration developed under SCS RMC® will further enhance DataServices with even better visualization and location capabilities and provide enhanced features such as allowing landfill owners to see their well as-built information and view subsurface information about their wells.

 

Learn more at SCS Engineers, where we adopt our clients’ environmental challenges as our own.

 

 

 

 

 

Posted by Diane Samuels at 2:38 pm