PRE-TREATMENT PRIOR FINAL DISPOSAL-A CASE STUDY FOR THAILAND-

SUMMARY: The effect of pre-treatment prior final disposal is investigated for a typical engi-neered landfill in Thailand regarding the specific climatic monsoon conditions. As pre-treatment process a simple windrow composting is designed. Based on actual landfill performance and simulation of the emission potential over a period of 20 years is assessed. Emissions of pre-treated and landfilled waste are compared to that of waste merely landfilled without pre-treatment. The cumulative COD as well as load over 20 years of landfill operations reveals a rather reduction of pollutant potential by pre-treatment. The pre-treatment process comes out with a peak load during the intensive open composting of around 20 % for NH4-N and 35 % for COD. In total the pre-treatment reduces the pollution load potential to about 16-19%. Due to the reduction of organic matter pre-treated waste will generate much less landfill gas. Consequently a positive green house effect of pre-treated waste is achieved by effectively curtailing methane emissions. Pre-treated waste reveals an entire green house potential of less than 10 % of non-treated waste. Pre-treatment, i.e. simple composting of MSW is suggested as the most suitable option that reduces landfill emissions and diminishes post closure control efforts. 1