County landfill personnel at a Florida landfill conducted a pilot study with five competitive products to determine if they could improve the effectiveness of an on-going odor control program. Odors are generated throughout areas receiving the trash and are especially bad during wet weather due to wet soil covers and standing puddles. A more effective means of control was necessary to satisfy neighboring property owners. Closed trash cells use gas burners to oxidize methane and other gases, eliminating odor problems from these areas.more...
Report: Effective Odor Control Part 2
Bacteria and Enzyme Technology: Bacteria and enzyme technology is the process of bacteria consuming organic matter. Bacteria that NWC uses feed on the contamination causing the odor, deriving nutrition for growth and reproduction. Undergoing a complex chemical reaction the waste causing the odor, or the gas, the waste is metabolized into a final metabolic waste product, usually water and carbon dioxide. The result of this natural process is that wastes are used up completely or converted into an innocuous product such as water and carbon dioxide.
A bacterium is a single cell life form with each cell being a separate, unique organism. Bacterial grow in colonies and use a process of cell division as a method of reproduction. The mature bacterium reproduces by dividing into two sister cells, with each cell being identical to the other. Under ideal pH, oxygen and temperature conditions, bacteria can duplicate in 20-30 minutes. This allows the population of microorganisms to explode logarithmically. At some point when the odor causing food source is depleted, or other change occur in temperature, oxygen or pH, the population of bacteria will decrease.
The purpose of using bacteria for odor control is to immobilize and transform the odor causing organics to another chemical form that no longer releases or carries odor. Instead of using chemicals such as sodium hydroxide, or lye, and the bleach sodium hypochlorite to degrade hydrogen sulfide, NWC’s Odor Colonel’s microbes convert the hydrogen sulfide into odorless hydrogen sulfate, which is carried away by water trickling through the waste. Sewage-plant operators would really like to get rid of the chemicals because they are corrosive and dangerous. NWC’s battalion of bacteria and enzyme populated products use microorganisms that are prequalified populations engineered to work on various types of odor causing organics in the landfill, waste water treatment plant, on contaminated sediment remediation projects, or in a transfer stations. NWC’s systems are designed to support and enhance microbial action already occurring that is breaking down waste organics. The genetic capabilities of the microbes that comprise the biomass control the ability of the system to breakdown specific components of the waste.
The bacteria and enzymes go after what is causing the odors, as opposed to encapsulating them. This technology is more expensive than neutralizers and absorbents, but eliminates the source of the problem. Application of these materials, such as Odor Colonel, Odor Major or Odor Ranger, are done topically on the waste, but are generally required to be applied every day.
- Landfills
- Waste Water Treatment plants
- Composting Operations
- Transfer Stations
