Landfill Reclamation

Large Waste to Energy projects require several years to build before they begin generating revenue.  This time period provides  a unique  opportunity to "clean-up" the environment, particularly if the facility is being constructed on or adjacent to an existing landfill.

ADP's Landfill Reclamation partner, Waste to Energy Group, Inc. (WTEG), a green systems integration company, was formed to bring the newest, state-of-the-art, Landfill Reclamation technology being used in Europe, Asia, and elsewhere to the USA. WTEG's technical process begins by analyzing and profiling the landfill to locate and measure gas pressure, liquid pressure, and vacuum zones. This process involves the use of a side-sensing, piezo-penetrometer cone which is pushed into the landfill.  Data is continuously recorded from the full depth of the landfill and fed into a computer to create a 3-D profile of the conditions inside the landfill, as shown in this example:

Using this information, WTEG engineers design and create a steam injection "Landfill Bioreactor" to increase the humidity of the landfill to greatly accelerate biodegradation (from 20 years down to 1 or 2 years) and maximize the quantity of methane (up to 70% of available gases) and carbon dioxide (up to 30%) which can be captured.  For example, a 5 acre landfill having 500 tons of organic waste can produce ~6,000,000 cubic feet of biogas per day using this technology, yielding as much as $65 million in net annual sales.

Older bioreactors use liquid technology to saturate refuse, but this introduces significant operating problems (increased leachate generation, uneven loading on slope liners, potential blockage of drains, etc.).  Steam injection technology minimizes many of these problems and greatly improves moisture distribution.

At the conclusion of the reclamation project, the landfill's organic material is completely inert, producing no greenhouse gases, no methane gas, or leachate water pollution, and the surface level of the landfill can drop as much as 30 feet, making the property available for higher value use.

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