Waste Sites as Biological Reactors

Where and how wastes disappear, and how the environment is affected by the process, are issues that affect cities and towns around the world. Recent investigations have convincingly shown that waste poses water, air, and public health dangers that necessitate highly efficient engineered controls. An inexpensive, effective, method for assessing impacts and risks of a system and devising management plans is to develop mathematical and quantitative models that are sufficiently representative to allow examination of physical systems as units subject to environmental factors.

Providing detailed coverage of the biological, chemical, and physical characteristics of solid waste sites, Waste Sites as Biological Reactors: Characterization and Modeling describes the parameters required to understand, model, and assess the capacity of a waste disposal site as an open biodegradation system. The authors present original analyses of waste and reactor kinetics, decomposition, temperature, and moisture effects, and heat properties. They discuss landfill gas and leachate chemicals generation with detailed composition and property data. Tables and figures provide easy access to the information, and the authors explore various site management options.

The simplicity, ugliness, and beauty of a waste disposal site confronts us with a microcosm of nature at its most basic, yet functioning in its most elegant form. Where and how wastes disappear and how the environment is affected are issues of concern to cities and towns around the world. Waste Sites as Biological Reactors: Characterization and Modeling deconstructs the mystery of the waste site in such a way that it can be modeled using familiar tools and the information obtained can then be applied to site remediation.