SCS Engineers announces the environmental engineering firm will construct the first Gas Collection and Control System (GCCS) and flare station at the WM® (formerly Waste Management®) Gray Wolf Regional Landfill. The facility is located in Dewey, Arizona, and provides disposal services for Yavapai County and Northern Arizona.
The GCCS serves as a critical component to keep Gray Wolf compliant with federal emissions standards. The system collects gases that are a natural byproduct of the decomposition of organic material in landfills and directs them to a central point where they are processed and treated via flare.
SCS Engineers is a national leader in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to combat global warming. For example, methane — one of the gases a landfill produces — is 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in terms of its greenhouse effect. Destroying methane using combustion, such as flaring, can diminish its GHG potential by 95 percent.
Since their introduction in the early 1990s, U.S. EPA National Source Performance Standards (NSPS) emission guidelines require landfill owners and operators to evaluate and mitigate landfill air emissions. As a result of its intensive involvement in regulatory compliance, its decades of expertise, and landfill technologies, SCS is considered one of the nation’s leading authorities on the landfill NSPS rule and its efficient implementation.
“We’re proud to back WM at the Gray Wolf Regional Landfill in their support of community programs and essential services that make Yavapai County and its surrounding region a healthy place to live, work, and play,” states Arthur Jones. Desert Southwest Region Manager Arthur Jones and Project Manager Chris Romo lead the Gray Wolf GCCS construction project.
Landfills across the country are experiencing a trend ─ black goo, pluggage, and scaling in their leachate and gas collection systems. These organic and inorganic deposits are difficult to treat once they’ve seeped into liquid and GCCS systems, the pluggage slows equipment and pipes, impacting the extraction of liquids and landfill gas.
Our team of engineers, scientists, and landfill-landfill gas operations experts will provide a comprehensive discussion in May of what we are seeing and piloting in the field.
Live on Thursday, May 19, 2022
2:00 pm Eastern Time for 1 hour
Register to receive on-demand access following the live forum.
Prevent chemical deposits and pluggage before your pipes slow landfill gas and leachate collection.
This educational, non-commercial webinar with a Q&A forum throughout is free and open to all who want to learn more about landfill pluggage concerns and preventative treatments to consider. We recommend this month’s discussion for landfill owners/operators, landfill gas technicians, environmental engineers, and environmental agency staff. A Certificate of Attendance is available on request following the live session.
Our panelists this month discuss best practices for identifying, treating, and possibly even preventing chemical deposits (black goo, scaling, foaming) before and after they occur within your infrastructure. We’ll also include what landfill field operations can do to identify and treat conditions that appear symptomatic of possible future issues.
No one has all the answers ─ each site’s conditions are unique. Our team of engineers, scientists, and landfill-landfill gas operations experts will provide a comprehensive discussion in May of what we are seeing and piloting in the field.
Live on Thursday, May 19, 2022
2:00 pm Eastern Time for 1 hour
Prevent chemical deposits (black goo, scaling, foaming) bofore your pipes plug or slow landfill gas and leachate collection. RSVP to receive a copy of the recording for on-demand access.
It isn’t often that you have the oppotunity to have a full bench of experts at your disposal for free. At SCS, it happens monthly. Join us for our next free forum covering sticky situations that clog your landfill gas and leachate pipes. Keep the gas and liquids flowing with our scientists, engineers, and field experts. Ask questions anonymously for privacy, and learn the latest strategies for preventing and mitigating pluggage.
Live on Thursday, May 19, 2022
2:00 pm Eastern Time for 1 hour
… according to the experts, and continue through its active life. All along, operators should consider what they will need to show regulators once they are ready to install the final cap.
Choosing the right designer for liquids and gas management is critical. The complexity of landfills varies from site to site, and issues related to conflicts among gas and liquids pipes, and pipes and final cover geosynthetics vary depending on the geometry and other landfill features involved at each location. In short, your designers must understand and work closely with your operations and monitoring team.
The best way to resolve conflicts before the closure is to have a coordinated effort among parties involved in the design to discuss and find solutions to every conflict at the design stage.
This proposed MSW Landfills Federal Plan includes the same elements as required for a state plan: identification of legal authority and mechanisms for implementation; inventory of designated facilities; emissions inventory; emission limits; compliance schedules; a process for the EPA or state review of design plans for site-specific gas collection and control systems (GCCS); testing, monitoring, reporting and record-keeping requirements; public hearing requirements; and progress reporting requirements. Additionally, this action summarizes implementation and delegation of authority of the MSW Landfills Federal Plan.
This proposed action addresses existing MSW landfills and associated solid waste management programs. For the purpose of this regulation, existing MSW landfills are those that accepted waste after November 8, 1987, and commenced construction on or before July 17, 2014.
Tables 1 and 2 in the publication list the associated regulated industrial source categories that are the subject of this action and the status of state plans. The EPA tables are not intended to be exhaustive but do provide a guide for readers regarding the entities that this proposed action is likely to affect. The proposed standards, once promulgated, will be directly applicable to the designated facilities.
The document contains the full text and how/when to comment or appear at the public hearing. Feel free to share this document or page with others using the icons at left.
EPA-HQ-OAR-2019-0338-0001_August_22_2019
To generate a return on investment of site-specific GCCS, you need OMM staff who understand the strengths and weaknesses of your site. From that understanding, successful OMM teams and facility owners can design, perform, and fine-tune their program.
SCS’s BMP’s uses a “beyond the compliance OMM model” because the practice leads to strengthening relationships with regulatory agencies and LFG energy providers. Our clients expect to move toward a field optimization program when both OMM procedures and regulatory requirements are fine-tuned to work in concert. That investment pays dividends by increasing compliance and improving gas recovery. When developed OMM principles are defined clearly, and evolved along with GCCS design and construction, teams rise to the challenge, and the reward is a consistent track record of excellent GCCS operation.
Part 1 of the series discusses design considerations for landfill gas collection and control systems (GCCS); Part 2 takes into account construction quality assurance (CQA) measures during construction of GCCS; and Part 3 covers BMP’s for GCCS Operation, Monitoring, and Maintenance (OMM) in the September/October issue of MSW Magazine. The SCS Team covers:
CQA is essential for ensuring the proper construction of GCCS and meeting the intent of the design, and can help prevent safety mishaps. Even highly experienced design-build teams invest in expert CQA professionals to protect their capital investment, maintain maximum LFG capture through constructed GCCS, and keep operating and maintenance costs in line. It is critical for CQA person-nel to understand the overall intent of the design drawings, current field conditions, long-term conditions, and strict safety protocols. They must also have the expertise to respond to the questions contractors have during construction, especially regarding modifications to the design which will positively impact safety, long-term performance, and maintenance.
Part 1 of the 3-part article series in MSW Magazine discussed essential elements of the piping system in a landfill gas collection and control system (GCCS). The authors examine landfill GCCS design perspective and the benefits of designing landfill gas (LFG) headers outside of the waste boundary. In Part 2, we focus on construction quality assurance (CQA) services and outline the process of taking the design drawings through completion of the CQA report.
Read Part 2 here. Contains link to Part 1.
An essential part of landfills accepting organic matter is the gas collection and control system (GCCS) for controlling odors and landfill gas (LFG) emissions into the environment; the piping network. GCCS design and construction have evolved significantly over the past four decades, from passive venting trench systems to a sophisticated and elaborate piping systems with specialized components for handling LFG, landfill liquids, and condensate flowing through the piping network.
This detailed article discusses best practices and recommendations that GCCS designers keep in mind; careful attention to these details can potentially save landfill operators significant modification costs and inconveniences prior to and during construction of the final covers.
Read the full article published in MSW Magazine.
About the Authors: Ali Khatami, Ph.D., PE, LEP, CGC, is a Project Director and a Vice President of SCS Engineers. Srividhya Viswanathan, PE, is a Senior Project Manager with over 10 years of engineering experience. David Fisher is an SCS National OM&M Compliance Manager with 18 years of environmental experience.
We continue SCS’s Advice from the Field blog series with guidance from an article in MSW Magazine by Daniel R. Cooper, Jason Timmons, and Stephanie Liptak.
The authors of a recent article in MSW Management Magazine present engineering ideas that provide for more efficient construction of a GCCS. Gas system operators will benefit by having fewer pumps to operate and maintain and shallower headers that are more easily accessible. Odor management will be easier along with other benefits.
Read the full article here to learn about the design elements for maximizing long-term benefits, impacting: bottom liners, location of the blower/flare station, leachate risers, extraction well targets, and external header piping.
