Implementation of an Odor Control Gas Collection System on an Active Pulp and Paper Mill, Landfill, 1998 Environmental Conference Proceedings

A pulp and paper mill located in upstate New York has been operating a filter cake landfill, receiving close to 300 cubic yards of waste material per day. Approximately 80 percent of the waste is dewatered filter cake from the mill’s wastewater treatment plant. The second of four landfill phases is currently being filled.

During wet and/or warm months (April through October), the landfilled filter cake odors have been noticeable off-site. The working face of the landfill is the source of most of the odors, with the inactive portions of the landfill having been covered with a thin layer of sand. Previous to initiating an active gas collection system, various other in-plant and landfill site control measures were attempted.

Gas capture and treatment technology was selected as the most appropriate and economical means of controlling site odors. Vertical extraction wells and a surface collection system combining a geomembrane and perforated piping were evaluated. Concurrent bench-scale laboratory treatability studies were also conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of various treatment additives at reducing or eliminating odors and to evaluate the gases generated from the filter cake to determine the requirements for air treatment. Methane was not found to be a major gas constituent; therefore, an alternative to thermal gas destruction was required.

The unique, flexible surface gas collection system was designed to meet the odor control goals and objectives. Specific challenges which needed to be overcome included determining gas generation rates, determining gas composition and related treatment technologies, and daily cover operational needs.

The surficial gas collection system was installed in the spring of 1994, to meet a regulatory time requirement. Landfill gas collection, along with other operational changes, has successfully minimized odor at the site and met the desired operational flexibility requirements.