Municipal solid waste system design

Alternative final cover systems, such as the innovative evapotranspiration (ET) cover systems, are increasingly being considered for use at waste disposal sites, including municipal solid waste (MSW) and hazardous waste landfills when equivalent performance to conventional final cover systems can be demonstrated. Unlike conventional cover system designs that use materials with low hydraulic permeability (barrier layers) to minimize the downward migration of water from the cover to the waste (percolation), ET cover systems use water balance components to minimize percolation. These cover systems rely on the properties of soil to store water until it is either transpired through vegetation or evaporated from the soil surface. 

Subtitle D of RCRA covers nonhazardous solid waste generators, transporters, treatment facilities, storage facilities, and disposal sites. Extensive rules governing municipal solid waste landfills (MSWLs) have been developed, including how to design, construct, operate, monitor, and close a landfill, as well as leachate systems and caps. The nonhazardous waste regulation is left for the states. 

Several firms have developed systems for specialized application such as agricultural residue conversion, wood residue conversion and municipal solid waste disposal. Most of these systems have capacities of less than 50 GJ/h of product gas, i.e., 80-90 oven dried tons per day (ODT/D) of feedstock. Larger systems gasifying more than 100 ODT/D of wood are similar in design to gasifiers developed prior to 1950. 

The disposal of municipal solid waste (MSW) and, to a lesser extent, hazardous solid waste (HSW) represents a significant activity associated with geoenvironmental engineering. In most countries, the minimum design requirements for liner systems designed and constiucted to... 

The base liner in modem waste containment facilities is typically a double-composite liner system. Double-composite liner systems are used to contain municipal solid waste and are required for waste containment facilities designed to contain hazardous waste. The primary liner system of a double-composite liner system typically includes a geomembrane and a geocomposite clay liner as the primary barrier layer and a geomembrane underlain by a compacted clay liner composite as the secondary barrier layer. 

Municipal, commercial and light industrial waste is converted to energy daily in about 450 mass burning facilities worldwide. Of these, less than 20 operate in the U.S.A. Realizing this fact, Steve Levy and David Sussman of the U.S. EPA Office of Solid Waste developed a study program titled, "Evaluation of European Refuse Fired Energy Systems Design Practices." This paper presents research conclusions. 

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