Control of pH of retained water in the coastal waste disposal site

Abstract

After landfilling of wastes is completed, the stabilization of landfilled ground requires much time and cost. Therefore, this study aimed to control the pH of retained water in the coastal waste disposal sites during landfilling process, by conducting field surveys and laboratory experiments. In field surveys, we investigated the changes of retained water quality such as pH, salinity, and dissolved oxygen. The results show the pH of retained water has risen to about 10 when the volume of landfilled wastes reached about 25% of landfill capacity. In lowing the pH, we considered a low-cost method by pumping seawater from the adjacent sea into the landfill. The mechanism in this method is that, H+ dissociated from HCO3- in the fresh seawater react with OH- eluted from wastes would result in pH decrease. The laboratory experiments were conducted to verify the effect on pH change by adding fresh seawater to alkalized seawater. As a result, the effect of injecting fresh seawater into alkalized seawater with pH higher than 9 was confirmed. Therefore, this treatment method is suggested to enable the disposal sites to be used promptly after landfilling is completed, by adding fresh seawater to purify the retained water and waste at low cost during landfilling process.