Leachate Recirculation in Bioreactor Landfills Using Geocomposite Drainage Material

The key purpose of this study was to test the use of a permeable blanket made up of a geocomposite drainage layer (GDL) for leachate recirculation in municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills and to predict the observed leachate travel in the blanket using a numerical model. A 34 m long by 12 m wide permeable blanket made up of GDL was constructed at an active MSW landfill located in Michigan. Leachate was injected in the GDL using a perforated pipe placed centrally above the GDL along its length. Moisture content sensors, pressure transducers, thermistors, thermocouple sensors, and a vertical load sensor were embedded immediately below the GDL blanket to monitor the flow of injected leachate. After the blanket was covered with waste, leachate was injected into the blanket at rates ranging from 0.9 to 2.6 m^3/h per meter length of the blanket. Data collected from the embedded sensors indicated that the injected leachate traveled at rates ranging from 5 to 18 m/h through the blanket depending upon the leachate injection rate. Only pressure transducers and thermistors were consistently able to detect migration of injected leachate once the blanket got saturated. Moisture content sensors could not register any change in readings once the blanket became saturated. Leachate injection pressure monitored over a period of about 12 months indicated no signs of clogging of the blanket. The leachate pressures measured immediately below the blanket were less than the net leachate injection pressure indicting that there was a head loss in the GDL blanket. Numerical modeling of liquid flow in the blanket indicated that predicted leachate travel in the blanket was consistent with the field data for assumed values of the waste hydraulic conductivity. In the absence of measured representative hydraulic properties of the waste, absolute verification of the field data was not possible.