Temperature development in a modern municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) bottom ash landfill with regard to sustainable waste management

Municipal solid waste is treated in incineration plants to reduce the volume, the toxicity and the reactivity of the waste. The final product, municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) bottom ash, was considered as a material with a low reactivity, which can safely be deposited in a MSWI bottom ash landfill, or which can be used, e.g. in road construction after further treatment. However, temperature measurements in MSWI bottom ash landfills showed temperatures up to 90°C, caused by exothermic reactions within the landfill. Such high temperatures may affect the stability of the flexible polymer membrane liner (FML) and may also lead to an accelerated desiccation of the clay barrier. At the beginning of this study it was uncertain whether those reported results would be applicable to modern landfills, because the treatment techniques in MSWI and landfills have changed, bottom and fly ash are stored separately, and the composition of the incinerated waste has changed significantly since the publication of those results.The aim of this study was to gain detailed knowledge of temperature development under standard disposal conditions in relation to the rate of ash disposal, the variation of layer thickness, and the environmental conditions in a modern landfill.Temperatures were measured at nine levels within the body of a landfill for a period of nearly 3 years. Within 7 months of the start of the disposal, a temperature increase of up to 70°C within the vertical centre of the disposal was observed. In the upper and central part of the landfill this initial temperature increase was succeeded by a decrease in temperature. The maximum temperature at the time of writing (May 2000) is about 55°C in the central part of the landfill. The maximum temperature (45.9°C) at the FML was reached 17 months after the start of the deposition. Since then the temperatures decreased at a rate of 0.6°C per month.Temperature variation within each individual layer corresponds to the temperature of the underlying layer and the overall surface-to-volume ratio of the landfill. The temperatures in the uppermost layer are significantly influenced by the ambient temperatures.