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BENEFITS OF LANDFILL MONITORING

By: Frank Smith

Landfill gas and leachate monitoring provide landfill operation managers the tools to run facilities at peak form. The natural decomposition of organic material in landfills produces a great deal of Methane gas. This gas should be burned (or "flared") to reduce odor, which also limits the impact on the environment and minimizes global warming. The primary benefit of monitoring the gas collection and leachate systems in landfills enables the gas operation manager to quickly respond to problems and minimize the impacts to the surrounding environment.

Landfills are usually quite large, encompassing many acres. The gas collection systems in landfills are complex and spread out all across each facility. Furthermore, gas operation managers are typically responsible for many landfills at once, so it is not practical or even possible for a sole individual to physically be at each active landfill site. While periodic surveys and analysis of the facilities by environmental engineers help, only continuous, real-time, remote monitoring provides landfill managers with data needed to respond to any number of possible issues quickly, before they turn into serious problems.

Landfill flares are controlled by electronics, typically made up of temperature controllers and relay logic systems or PLCs (programmable logic controllers). They operate the blower motors, valves and control the solenoids that comprise the landfill Methane flare system. The landfill flare system often uses a large blower motor (20 hp typically) to pull a vacuum on the landfill across a network of PVC pipe gas extractors throughout the site. These extractors are like straws stuck deep into the landfill, so the blower can literally suck the gas out of decomposing organic material. At the blower motor, the network of gas extraction pipes converge and the landfill Methane gas stream is routed into a single large pipe with a typical flow rate of 500 to 5000 SCFM. The flare controller may employ Nitrogen actuated valves to regulate this flow. The Methane concentration level is typically in the 30% to 60% range. It is routed to a flare stack where the gas is burned. The flare controller may use Propane to get the burn started with an electronically controlled spark, similar to that on a common BBQ pit starter system. A landfill gas operations manager will benefit from continuous, real-time, remote monitoring of the gas flow rate, flare temperature, Nitrogen pressure and Propane pressure. Other uses include the monitoring the totalizers for flow. These these flow values can be used in reports filed with cities or municipalities, as well as the EPA.

Due to the large vacuums, and the pressure and temperature differentials at work during the Methane gas extraction process, a liquid condensate comes out of the gas stream. Ideally this occurs at the flare stack in what is often referred to as the knock-out pot. This liquid condensate commonly known as "leachate" in landfill terminology is a waste by-product and must be processed. Depending on the gas system's flow rate, hundreds to thousands of gallons of leachate may be produced per day during the gas extraction process. Leachate extraction, storage, and disposal systems are additional necessities in the gas operations of landfills. Leachate is condensed out of the gas stream from the vacuum pulled on the landfill to extract the Methane gas. Leachate collection sumps, tanks, pumps, wet wells, knock-out pots are among the many leachate management components used to process this waste. By remotely monitoring these systems, specifically leachate tank levels, pump run times, duty cycles and faults, the gas operations manager will respond to any type of leachate collection issue quickly.

Landfill gas operation managers need to keep close tabs on their entire gas collection system at each landfill. Once it was complicated and expensive to do this with landfill SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) telemetry systems, but now, thanks to innovative technological developments it is possible to utilize cost effective wireless real time monitoring for all of the parameters detailed above. The days of using hard wired telephone alarm autodialers that simply play back pre-recorded messages are long gone. With the continuous, real time, wireless landfill monitoring, landfill operators get a complete report of all alarm and status signals ,in addition to flows, temperatures, tank levels and pressures.

Wireless landfill monitoring systems keep an eye on the entire operation, continuously transmitting temperature and flow data as well as alarming on any event that warrants immediate attention from the landfill gas operation manager. Landfill operators are increasingly interested in landfill gas to energy plant monitoring as they explore incentives for alternative energy programs. The data collected from the monitoring system also enables reports on greenhouse gas emissions, carbon offsets, carbon footprint, and even carbon credits. As the technology has become more advanced, 24x7x365 data and status is at the fingertips of the gas operations manager and all other interested personnel. No one has to monitor data by physically being at the facility.

Key features of the landfill monitoring system include totally wireless operation with no phone lines or data lines required at the facility. The entire system is web-based so there is no software to buy or install. The monitoring system is easy to both use and install thanks to its design. An internal battery backup on the transmitter keeps the system operating during power outages in addition to notifying the operation manager about loss of power at the facility. The system provides daily updates by email or text. It gives immediate notification of any alarms or events. Each daily report displays total gas flow and leachate production or reduction totals. You can access the landfill monitoring system from anywhere, be it home, the office or any place with internet access. The web-based configuration features provide flexible options for the sensors and transducers setup, while the online reports and history files make exporting data for all the events and alarms a snap.

Don't risk unexpected and inevitable flare shutdown events, anomalous flow readings, chart recorder failures or power outages occurring without knowing about them right away. FleetZOOM provides a full featured continuous sampling wireless real time landfill monitoring system. For details about the monitoring solution, visit http://www.FleetZOOM.com/Landfill.aspx and read about the latest features of remote landfill monitoring.

Article Source: http://www.articleviral.com

Rick West Pouple is author of this article on Generator Monitoring. Find more information about Wireless Remote Monitoring here.

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