Workshop at UD Addresses Sustainable Landfill Modeling

By Diane S. Kukich

The University of Delaware’s Virden Center was the setting for a recent NSF Workshop on Models for Sustainable Landfills.  The event was co-organized by UD-CEE Associate Professor Paul Imhoff with Shannon Bartelt-Hunt from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Mort Barlaz from North Carolina State University.

Held from March 16-19, 2008, the two-day workshop brought landfill researchers from around the world to (1) identify key research needs with respect to landfill modeling, (2) discuss promising approaches for advancing such models, and (3) write a summary paper on the state of the art of landfill modeling that describes both the status of existing modeling frameworks and directions for advancing landfill modeling. 

UD-CEE was represented by Associate Professor Pei Chiu, Assistant Professor Chris Meehan, and several graduate students in addition to Imhoff.  A total of 33 researchers participated in the invitation-only event, including faculty from institutions in England, Denmark, and Germany.

“The workshop was a really great opportunity to meet people with a variety of research interests all centered on the common theme of landfill modeling,” says Meehan. “From my perspective as a geotechnical engineer, it was great to see the modeling approaches that are used by other discipline areas being used to solve a shared problem.”

Focal areas addressed at the event included (1) determination of the fate of chemical and biological warfare agents, (2) reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from landfills through the use of biologically active covers, and (3) intelligent control of bioreactor landfilling.  Sessions addressed a range of specific topics from settlement and solute/sorbent interactions to heat generation and reactions, gas transport, and liquid transport.

“Although our research group at UD is playing a leading role in sustainable landfill modeling and doing innovative work,” says Imhoff, “I think that some of the best research is being done in Europe and Asia, where the stressors on landfill systems are greater.  I always enjoy talking with international researchers about this topic, and I learned a lot from them at the workshop.”