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Landfill Gas Collection O & M

John Poullain, P.E.


Course Outline

This three-hour online course provides criteria and general guidance for O & M of landfill gas collection and treatment systems. It provides info about monitoring procedures, equipment, frequency of monitoring, and emergency services. Also considered are problem areas and corrective measures to adjust system operations. The regulatory requirements and summary of applicable regulations are also discussed.

This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.

Learning Objective

The following topics are covered in the course:

Intended Audience

This course is intended for civil engineers, planners and contractors.

Benefit to Attendees

The student will become familiar with criteria and general guidance for O & M of landfill gas collection and treatment systems.

Course Introduction

Landfills produce several types of gas and condensate during the bacterial decomposition and chemical reaction of municipal, industrial, and hazardous waste materials. Several of the factors affecting generation of land fill gas (LFG) include types of waste and nutrients, temperature and moisture content, and even atmospheric conditions. Both aerobic and anaerobic decomposition occur, sometimes both at the same time. Biological decomposition takes place in three phases, the Phase 3 or methanogenic stage, produces the most methane gas, 40% to 70% concentration.

Course Content

This course is based on the US Army Corps of Engineers publication, “Landfill Gas Collection and Treatment Systems”, EM 200-1-22, chapters 1, 2, 5, and 6 (2008 Edition, 42 pages), PDF file:

Landfill Off-Gas Collection and Treatment Systems

Please click on the above underlined hypertext to view, download or print the document for your study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the file to your computer by right clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you still experience any difficulty in downloading or opening this file, you may need to close some applications or reboot your computer to free up some memory.

Course Summary

This course serves as a guide for safe and efficient O&M of LFG collection systems. Monitoring LG gas generation; controlling leachates and condensates, procedures for preventing and controlling LF fires, suitability of various types of equipment, and components of collection and treatment are discussed.

Related Links

For additional technical information related to this subject, please refer to:

http://www.epa.gov/lmop/basic/basic-info 
EPA reasons for LF, safe operation of collection and treatment system. It covers the EPA requirements, the importance of methane collection, uses for energy and serves as a guide for landfill owners/operators, developers.   

http://www.nrel.gov/docs/legosti/fy97/23070.pdf        
National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) of the Dept. of Energy document, “LFG O&M Manual of Practice”. It covers the LFG fundamentals, control, collection, regulations, and O&M.

Quiz

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.

DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.