Drs. Halil Kavak, Raudel Sanchez and Ian Webster have worked for a number of major clients on landfill assessment and closure projects. A notable example is the Operating Industries Inc (OII) Landfill in Monterey Park, CA. In addition to helping with more routine site design and construction activities, the PNL team was asked to investigate and provide solutions to control and mitigate landfill waste prism fires (or enhanced oxidation zones). The PNL team used in well thermocouples to measure temperatures and produce 3D maps of the locations of the high temperature zones. The existence of high temperature zones (driven by air intrusion into the landfill prism) affects the ability to efficiently collect landfill gas and readily maintain perimeter compliance.
The PNL team has now reported on some of the general findings. Click here to see how we have classified different types of landfill fires.