Finding better ways to manage pollutants at the WDE closed landfill (Andover)

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is using new technologies to make the old Waste Disposal Engineering Landfill, in Andover, a better neighbor.

An active gas-extraction system efficiently draws landfill gases from the buried mixed municipal solid waste. The landfill gases, mainly methane, are burned in an enclosed flare on site, thereby preventing the possible migration of these potentially dangerous gases to nearby homes and sewers.

Additional management was necessary to deal with problems associated with the landfill’s hazardous waste pit containing used paints and solvents. Last spring, polychlorinated biphenols, or PCBs, were found in groundwater beneath the pit. A granulated activated carbon treatment system was installed to capture the PCBs from the extracted groundwater.

Disposing of volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, in the hazardous waste pit was also a challenge. The MPCA solved this problem by installing a system that removes these gases from the pit, cools, compresses, and condenses them into a BTU-rich liquid used in a blended fuel burned in cement kilns across the country.

For information about the operation and remediation of the WDE Landfill contact John Moeger at the MPCA (phone 651-757-2574, email john.moeger@state.mn.us). More information is available in an MPCA fact sheet, Waste Disposal Engineering Closed Landfill update.

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