Category Archives: Side-slopes at hot site

Side-Slopes Take Over for Crusty Submersibles

A large cylindrical top-head drive pump lies on its side in an open grassy area. Several pipes extend from the pump, which seems to be disconnected from its original setup. A wooden stake and additional piping are visible nearby. The sky is partly cloudy.

After Hot, Aging Landfill Adds Gas System, Blackhawk Side-Slopes Take Over for Crusty Submersibles

A large, older landfill in a Southern state was baffled by significant changes in its operating characteristics after installing a landfill gas system.

The conscientiously well-run site, opened more than 20 years ago, always has been challenging — extremely harsh, hot and highly volatile. The regional gas manager called it more than a typical landfill, with high variability and breadth in the stream of accepted waste — 40-50 percent trash, 10 percent construction debris, plus significant amounts of industrial waste, bio solids, sludges, solidified liquids, offset products, ash and heavy metals. Industrial waste and fill are used as cover. There is little oxygen and no leachate fingerprint, the manager says.

After Hot, Aging Landfill Adds Gas System, Blackhawk Side-Slopes Take Over for Crusty Submersibles

Solar Pumps Go Horizontal to Dewater Canyon Wells

A solar panel is mounted on a metallic frame on a dirt hill. Nearby, a large, green pipe partially buried in the ground is connected to a top-head drive pump in a metal box. A smaller metal cage-like structure on the ground houses electrical equipment.

A West Cast landfill called on Blackhawk's Apollo Solar Piston Pumps™ to dewater remote-site trenches and methane wells in canyons no longer served by electric or pneumatic power.

The closed Class D site includes 6-inch vertical wells to depths of 100 feet with a 1¼-inch gas discharge. More challenging has been dewatering near-horizontal side-slope trenches in the canyons. Some customizing and experimenting with Apollos have been most effective.

In July 2012, the landfill purchased three Apollo units with variable solar charge controls and 180- watt solar panels for dewatering three canyon gas wells. The Apollos successfully dewatered all three wells while running only during daylight hours at roughly 1 gallon per minute.

A West Cast landfill called on Blackhawk’s Apollo Solar Piston Pumps™ to dewater remote-site trenches and methane wells in canyons no longer served by electric.