Landfill Gas Condensate Treatment Options to Eliminate Odor Issues and to Use Water for Dust Control

A large landfill-gas-to-power facility retained the authors to provide process evaluation and development support for a conceptual design of a landfill gas condensate (LFGC) treatment system to eliminate odor issues and reduce organic loads to the sewer or use the water for dust control. Based on the operational observations and water quality data, the source of the LFGC is moisture from gas generated by the decay of waste in the landfill that is transmitted to the power generation facilities by way of the landfill gas (LFG) collection system. As part of this project, the authors reviewed the data, and this presentation includes recommendations for long-term treatment solutions so that a permanent system can be designed, bid, procured, and installed. The purpose of the abstract is to present the findings of this analysis of LFGC treatment system alternatives to identify practical, commercially available solutions with the primary goal to reduce odor issues related to LFGC both on site and in the sewer system, and to reduce water usage at the site for dust control. The method to evaluate the various treatment options was based on treatment efficiency, and capital and life-cycle costs. The conclusion was to continue with pilot testing of the most suitable options, which was anaerobic treatment followed by polishing with a moving bed bioreactor (MBBR) to reuse the product water in cooling towers or for dust control.