Prof. D. N. Singh

BHAGWAN SHAMRAO PATIL

Ph. D.
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, India bspatil@iitb.ac.in

DEVELOPMENT AND EFFICIENCY MONITORING OF BIOREACTOR LANDFILLS

This study deals with development of aerobic and anaerobic bioreactor sustainable engineered bioreactor landfills, SEBLFs, which facilitates control over the process of decomposition of the municipal solid waste (MSW) with adequate instrumentation. It has been demonstrated that monitoring the moisture content and temperature, by resorting to latest and advanced instrumentation techniques (viz., FDR and TDR probes and a group of thermocouples) in landfills, helps in proper scheduling of leachate recirculation, which is very crucial for accelerated decomposition of the MSW. It has been observed that these SEBLFs yield desirable reduction in the total organic content of the MSW and chemical oxygen demand, COD, of the leachate, and increased conversion of the MSW into value added products (viz., micro- and macro-nutrients). Furthermore, the utility of SEBLFs in reducing the adverse impact on geo-environment has been verified by frequent sampling of the ground water from the sampling wells, which are located in the vicinity of the SEBLFs. It has also been demonstrated that repetitive usage of the SEBLF in a sequence (viz., loading of the MSW, closing of the landfill, recovery of biogas and harvesting of the decomposed material) would reduce the demand for procurement of huge extent of the precious land that are required for running conventional MSW landfills. This study also demonstrates that decentralisation of the landfills in the form of SEBLFs would reduce the menace associated with the collection and transportation of the MSW from various localities of the city and hence SEBLFs are panacea for decentralization of the landfills in today's context.