FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

ESC 5017 ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION AND

TREATMENT TECHNOLOGY

Individual Assignment

Identify one industry that applies zero discharge or green technology in their production.
Explain in detail the technology treatment used including air, water and sludge before
discharge to the environment.

BUKIT TAGAR SANITARY LANDFILL

PREPARED BY:
MUHAMMAD SYAZWAN BIN ABD RAHMAN
GS40160
Introduction:

Bukit Tagar Sanitary Landfill (BTSL) one of the largest and most advance engineered
sanitary landfills in Southeast Asia developed under supervision from the Ministry of Urban
Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government, Malaysia. It uses modern technologies,
including various methods unique to BTSL such as “Zero discharge” practice and reed beds
to ensure optimal protection to the environment. BTSL is developed on a 700-acre footprint,
with an additional 1,000 acres of buffer zone comprising undeveloped land surrounding the
landfill footprint. It is set amidst an oil palm plantation in a sparsely populated area in Hulu
Selangor district. Operated according to standards set by the Department of Environment
(DOE) with regular inspections to ensure full compliance with the parameters and standards
imposed.

BTSL is located approximately 50 kilometers from Kuala Lumpur and is accessible

from the North-South Expressway through the purpose-built Bukit Tagar interchange. KBE
constructed the interchange together with a new 9km 4-lane access road to enable direct and
easy access to the landfill from Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. With 120 million metric tonnes
of air space capacity, BTSL is capable of providing over 40 years solution to solid waste
management in the Central region of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.

Types of production:

BTSL is designed to handle municipal solid waste and other non-toxic waste and
BTSL is designed as a fully engineered Level IV landfill with full HDPE membrane liner,
leachate collection and treatment systems. The landfill will be developed in 17 phases over
40 years. Comprehensive ground and surface water monitoring systems are installed for
monitoring against contamination.

BTSL has fully lined cells at the base and sides with multi-layered liner system for
optimal environment protection. It also fully automated leachate treatment plant with
SCADA operating system capable of treating 1200 cubic meter of leachate (garbage
wastewater) production. Landfill gas management system with captures and harvests landfill
gas produced by decomposing waste. Renewable energy generation centre the produces
electricity utilising landfill gas and solar power by pilot solar project as a green and clean fuel
sources.

Process of production:
 Design with a level IV landfill with full HDPE membrane liner, leachate collection
and treatment facilities and comprehensive landfill gas management system. Municipal waste
arriving in haulage truck are weigh at electronic weigh-bridge before discharging waste at
designated tipping areas in active cells. Bulldozer and compactors spread and compact the
waste in layer. There are gas vents and pipe are constructed contemporaneously within the
waste layer to capture and channel landfill gas.

The stormwater interception system diverts and drains stormwater into silt traps and
detention ponds for discharge. Then, all the leachate is intercepted by base liner system and
conveyed through drainage pipes to the leachate treatment plant (LPT). The LTP employs
aerobic and anaerobic biological processes, flocculation and dissolved air flotation to break
down pollutants in the leachate to harmless component within a 24-hour cycle. The treated
effluent is further process in the reed beds to remove traces of heavy metals. Final treated
effluent achieving the DOE’s standards are not discharged into water-courses, but are
irrigated in designated zones to be absorbed by vegetation through evapo-transpiration to
achieve ‘zero discharge policy’.

Earth cover is applied daily over compacted waste to prevent infiltration of rain water
into the leachate collection system and avoid formation of excess leachate. Regular desilting
of the silt traps are carried out to maintain surface water quality.

Types of pollution:

Composition of pollution:

Technology used:

BTSL is operated and maintained by an experienced team with a full range of trucks,
compactors and earth moving plant at its disposal. The operations team works on three shifts,
seven days a week. BTSL operation features 24-hour security patrols and screens all
incoming waste trucks at the security check point. It incorporates a smart-card system for
vehicle identification and data logging at weighbridges. The designated tipping platforms for
waste disposal are planned and executed on a daily basis. Specialised compactors are used in
the application of daily earth cover to maintain hygiene, prevent odour and achieve maximum
air capacity. An on-going comprehensive training program is in place to train the team to
ensure optimum standards are maintained constantly. This includes regular briefing and trial
runs on safety and emergency procedures. A fully trained team is dedicated to manage the
leachate treatment plant, which operates round the clock.

Leachate treatment plan is a state-of-the-art leachate treatment plant is in place to treat

leachate output from the landfill. The plant is based primarily on biological reaction with a
series of chemical dosing to achieve the required leachate treatment standards. It is equipped
with 4 sequential batch reactor (SBR) lagoons, 24 aerators, chemical storage and dosing
system, balancing tanks, sludge thickener and a dissolved air flotation plant. The SCADA
system controls all the pumps and valves, enabling the plant to operate automatically. The
plant has a treatment capacity in excess of 1,000 cubic meters per day for methanogenic
leachate. Treated leachate is conveyed to the reed beds for final polishing. The reed beds
consist of Phragmites plant capable of absorbing residues in the treated leachate to further
improve its quality. BTSL is the first and only landfill in the region using the reed beds
polishing process. 4 leachate holding-ponds on site provide 180,000 cubic meters leachate
storage capacity to attenuate peak flows during wet seasons. The holding ponds also provide
leachate storage when the leachate treatment plant is undergoing maintenance.

Effective leachate management is a crucial part of tropical landfill operation. BTSL

monitors leachate production, storage and treatment rates closely through its proprietary
leachate management system to determine current and future storage and treatment
requirements. BTSL maintains 4 leachate holding-ponds for storage and pre-treatment of raw
leachate. The total storage capacity of the ponds is 180,000 cubic meters, making it the
largest storage system in the region. A large holding capacity provides a fail-safe system,
allowing excess leachate storage in wet season when leachate production may exceed the
treatment rate. The leachate management system provides early warning and enables pre-
emptive action to address storage requirements. It also helps operators determine the timing
for future upgrade of the leachate treatment plant.

To maintain integrity of the environment, and reflect its standing as a world-class

sanitary landfill, BTSL employs a comprehensive landfill gas (LFG) management strategy to
treat the LFG and to generate renewable energy. Generating renewable energy from LFG
reduces the need for production of electricity from traditional fossil fuel power plants. BTSL
deploys two gas flares to treat the LFG, including operating a 4.4 megawatt MWM gas
engine from Germany to generate electricity from LFG, and supplying the green energy to
Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) under the Feed-In Tariff scheme.

The landfill gas management system at BTSL is a self-initiated effort. The standards
implemented far exceed the requirements imposed by the Department of Environment. BTSL
has the distinction of operating the largest grid-connected biogas renewable energy facility
under the Feed-in Tariff programme in Malaysia, as well as having the most Certified
Emission Reduction (carbon credits) issued for a landfill project in South East Asia under the
CDM scheme. In furtherance of its green agenda, BTSL developed a pilot solar power project
at the Advance Phase. The Advance Phase consists of landfill cells that have reached capacity
and are fully closed. The establishment of the pilot solar project at the closed Advance Phase
allows full optimisation of resources at the landfill. The 125 kilowatt solar project is
presently experimenting with different solar panel technologies to determine the most
effective technology to adopt in future expansion. Energy produced from the solar project
will be supplied to TNB under the Fit-In tariff scheme. KUB-Berjaya Energy Sdn Bhd (a
wholly owned subsidiary of KBE) was incorporated to undertake the renewable energy from
LFG and solar projects.

BTSL is equipped with an emergency response system and leachate containment bund
to prevent accidental leachate break-out into external water-courses. Leachate is held within
the bund to enable remedial works to be undertaken. This safety measure surpasses the
requirement of the Department of Environment, and includes the following components:
- Continuous flow meter at monitoring bund
- Detention dam for upper catchment
- Containment bund at leachate treatment plant and holding ponds
Monitoring Bund:
The monitoring bund is also a detention dam to detain contaminated flow detected by the
flow meter. Contaminated water is conveyed to the raw leachate holding ponds by return
pumps at the monitoring bund pump chamber.

Containment Bund:
The bund has a containment capacity of 100,000 cubic meters. It is operated by gate valve for
isolation in the event of accidental spillage or breach of raw leachate.

Pollution concentration before and after treatment:

Daily, weekly and fortnightly tests are carried out to obtain different parameters of
both raw and treated leachate. This provides regular review of raw leachate characteristics
over time, and changes in quality of treated effluent as treatment regime progresses.

Daily tests on treated leachate are carried out at the SBR lagoons to ensure successful
treatment. Based on the tests, treatment rate and strategy can be adjusted for subsequent
treatment cycles. Daily tests are conducted to obtain readings for: pH, Ammoniacal nitrogen,
Nitrates, Nitrites, and Dissolved oxygen.

Weekly treated effluent tests are carried out at the treated leachate-balancing tank
(TLBT) and irrigation discharge chamber (IDC) to assess long-term effectiveness of the SBR
lagoons and reed beds.

Raw and treated leachate are sent to independent laboratories fortnightly for extensive
testing. The result is submitted as part of the Environment Monitoring Report and used for
long-term study of leachate characteristics progression. These samples are taken at all raw
leachate holding ponds and treated leachate chambers.

Surface water and groundwater quality monitoring tests are carried out monthly at
BTSL. Nitrites, pH, ammonia, e-coli, suspended solids and trace metals are among the major
parameters tested. Ambient air quality and noise levels are monitored quarterly for
submission to the Department of Environment in the Quarterly Environment Monitoring
Report. These reports also contain the closely monitored parameters stated above.

Conclusions:

BTSL has a complete environment protection system based on implementation of the

following system components: Surface water management plan, Leachate management plan,
Environmental monitoring, Early warning and emergency containment system. Surface or
storm water run-off is diverted away from active landfill phases and channelled through
surface drains toward open water-courses, silt traps and detention ponds. BTSL employs a
zero-discharge policy on treated effluent. Treated effluent, which has reached standards
allowing discharge into open water-courses, are irrigated in a 120-acre field instead of
discharging into open water-courses. This allows the treated effluent to be absorbed through
evapotranspiration and soil moisture retention, promoting optimum protection to the
environment.
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