STEARNS. CONRAD AND SCHMIDT RnrlorirU A CONSULTING ...

ROBERT P. STEARNS. PE

SCS ENGINEERS ET CONRAD,PESTEARNS. CONRAD AND SCHMIDT RnrlorirU ACONSULTING ENGINEERS. INC nouencR «.

Louis L Guy. PE211 GRANDVIEW DRIVC Miles J. HavenCOVINGTON. KENTUCKY «ioi7 Michael W. McLaughlinIK*. wi_5353 Gary L Mitchell, PE

November 21, 1984 David E. ROSS, PEF11. NO. 58415

John P. Woodyard, PE

Mr. William SkowronskiOhio Environmental Protection AgencyNortheast District Office2110 East Aurora RoadTwinsburg, Ohio 44087

Subject: Landfill Gas Monitoring at Industrial Excess Landfill, Uniontown,Ohio

Dear Bill:

Attached is our draft report on field work directed by Bill Held of SCSduring the week of November 4, 1984. It describes our well installations(subsurface materials encountered and well construction logs), monitoringresults obtained in the field, and laboratory analytical results as supportfor the methane readings determined via field instruments.

As you will note, this is a draft document at this time. If you have anycomments or questions on its contents, please do not hesitate to call BillHeld or myself. We look forward to the opportunity of continuing workat this site for Ohio EPA.

Sincerely,

|̂ uJulyAx^

James J. Walsh, P.E.Vice PresidentSCS ENGINEERS

OHIO EPAJJW:mjw

Endosureo

re

OFFICES IN RESTON, VIRGINIA; LONG IEACH, CALIFORNIA; •ELLEVUE, WASHINGTON; AND COVINOTON, KENTUCKY

DRAFT

LANDFILL GAS MONITORING ATINDUSTRIAL EXCESS LANDFILL

UNIONTOWN, OHIO

WELL INSTALLATIONS ANDPRELIMINARY MONITORING RESULTS

Submitted To:

Ohio Environmental Protection AgencyNortheast District Office2110 East Aurora RoadTwinsburg, Ohio 44087

Attention: Mr. William Skowronski

Submitted By:

SCS Engineers211 Grandview Drive

Covington, Kentucky 41017(606) 341-5353

November 19, 1984

I

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

1.0 Introduction...................................................... 1

2.0 Work Performed.................................................... 12.1 Borings and Punch Probes..................................... 12.2 Field and Laboratory Analyses................................ 3

3.0 Results........................................................... 33.1 Soil Profile................................................. 33.2 Subsurface Gas............................................... 3

4.0 Conclusions and Recommendations................................... 54.1 Conclusions.................................................. 54.2 Recommendations.............................................. 5

Appendices:

A Boring Logs.................................................. 8B Layout of Borings and Bar Punch Probes....................... 12

LIST OF EXHIBITS

ExhibitNumber Page

1 LFG Monitoring Probe Locations and Depths.................... 2I 2 Bar Punch Hole Methane Readings

3 Field Readings on Boreholes.................................. 64 Laboratory Results on Boreholes.............................. 7

n

IIIII

I.I

III

III

LANDFILL GAS MONITORING ATmWu tt£K& "uWUNIONTOWN, OHIO

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this investigation was to make a preliminary determina-tion of the extent of migration of landfill gas at the Industrial

I Excess Landfill near Uniontown, Ohio. The approach taken to accom-plish this was through a combination of shallow, punch-probe holereadings and three permanent monitoring wells, each containing mul-

_ tiple gas probes. Both field and laboratory analyses were performedI to determine the composition of the gas.

2.0 WORK PERFORMED

"2."I "borings and "Func'n Tro'ces

Three borings were made in the relative positions shown on the boringlocation plan. The boring logs can be found in Appendix A, and alayout of boring and bar punch probe locations is in Appendix B. Theborings were made using a track-mounted boring rig with hollow stemaugers and employing standard penetration resistance methods (140pound hammer, 30 in. drop, 2 in. outside diameter split spoon sampler)I at intervals of 5 or 10 ft. The disturbed split spoon samples werevisually classified, logged, and sealed in moisture proof jars.

Probes were installed in the borings for the purpose of monitoring andsampling subsurface gases. Each probe consisted of 3/4 in. PVC pipe,slotted with 6 to 8 slots over the bottom 18 in. of pipe. Specificconstruction details can be found on the boring-well logs. The numberand depth of the probes installed are shown in Exhibit 1. Depths werechecked following construction through the use of a weight tied to theend of a string, and are relative to the ground surface elevation.

Punch probe holes were made using a Heath 1/4 in. bar punch. Thepunch was driven its full length into the ground unless a stone was

( encountered. In some cases, an alternate hole was punched when aninitial hole could not be made to its full depth, or had filled withwater. The approximate locations of the bar punch holes are shown on

• the boring location plan.

I

IIIIIII

EXHIBIT 1

LFG MONITORING PROBE LOCATIONS AND DEPTH

Boring Probe

ApproximateDistance From

LandfillProperty Line

MeasuredDepth Below

Existing Grade

LFG-1

LFG-2

LFG-3

AB0D

ABCD

AB

10'

30'

60'

5' 0"12' 2"24' 2"42' 6"

4' 2"8' 4"

16' 11"27' 0"

3' 11"8' 0"

IIII

I

I

2.2 Field and Laboratory Analyses

Field analyses were performed on the following parameters:

• Methane (CH4)• Carbon Dioxide (C02)• Oxygen (02)• Pressure (in inches of water column)

( Methane was measured using a Mine Safety Appliance (MSA) Model 60Gascope Combustible Gas Indicator, calibrated specifically formethane.

I Carbon dioxide end oxygen were measured using Bacharach Fyrite GasAnalyzers which employ the "Orsat" method of volumetric analysis

• involving chemical absorption of a sample gas.

Probe pressures were measured using a Dwyer Instrument MagnehelicPressure Gauge in the 0 to 0.5 in. range (water column).

• Laboratory analyses were performed for methane, carbon dixoide,nitrogen, and oxygen. All analyses were performed on Varian 2700 GasChromatograph with a thermal conductivity detector.

• 3.0 RESULTS

' 3.1 Soil Profile

I The three borings made on the site indicate the soil to be glacial inorigin. The first 3 to 5 ft of material encountered was fill materialconsisting primarily of top soil, organic material, and gravel.

From approximately 5 ft deep to approximately 39 ft deep, the soil wasa medium to coarse sand and gravel. At about 39 ft, a fine brown sand

( was encountered which turned darker in color at about 42 ft. At about49 ft, a fairly stiff gray silt with some sand was found. Directlyabove this layer, subsurface conditions were very wet, indicating thegray silt to be much less permeable than the overlying sand and

I gravel. The elevation of the gray silt (approximately 1,100 to 1,110• ft mean sea level elevation) also corresponds to the reported bottom

elevation of the landfill.

I3.2 Subsurface Gas

I Subsurface gas was measured in two regimes: deep and shallow. Shal-low measurements of methane were taken in the hole made by the barpunch and were taken at a depth equal to the length of the metal probe

I of the MSA Gascope meter (about 3 ft). A series of holes were punched• along the western and northern sides of the site. Each series con-

sisted of two or more holes in a line, progressing away from theI landfill. In some cases, existing holes were used. The methane

results from the bar punch holes are shown in Exhibit 2.

I

Ir EXHIBIT 2

BAR PUNCH HOLE METHANE READINGS

Location

Bar Punch Probe No. :

1234

5678

91011

121314

1516

GG-1GG-2

Miscellaneous Locations:

11/5/84

2017300

2.5*663.5

61.8*0

4*5*1.4*

00

__—

Readings11/6/84

464040—_ —----—_ _----

^ —

----__—_ ..—

(Percent Methane)1 1/7/84

201561.5*

28161.6*22•. _

-_

--

— —

—__

_M--

351*

11/8/84

606060—

53504030

56420

44422.4*

* _

0

430

Soil Adjacent to"Tiny Tots"

's Housepace

24

5*

Notes:

— Not recorded.* Readings derived from "0 to 5 Percent Range". All other readings

derived from "0 to 100 Percent Range" scale.

Deep measurements were taken in the probes installed in the threeboreholes. Probe pressure was measured by attaching the magnehelicdirectly to the probe. Methane, carbon dioxide, oxygen, and nitrogenwere measured by both field and laboratory methods previously de-scribed. Subsurface gas was continuously withdrawn from each probefor sampling using a vacuum pump connected to the probe. Field in-strument measurements were taken while the laboratory sample wascollected. The results of the field measurements are shown in Exhi-bits 3 and laboratory results are shown in Exhibit 4.

4.0 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

4.1 Conclusions

It can be concluded from the field and laboratory data that thesubsurface gas encountered is probably landfill gas and that itssource is the Industrial Excess Landfill.

Landfill gas is characterized by methane to carbon ratios of 1 to 1 to2 to 1 (methane to carbon dioxide). Both the field and laboratoryresults of the borehole probe readings give methane to carbon dioxideratios in this range. If the gas was pipeline gas, for example, onewould find much higher methane to carbon dixoide ratios, or no carbondioxide at all (at detectable concentrations of 1 percent or more).

Additionally, the presence of methane rich gas at relatively largedepths (e.g., more than 20 ft) makes it extremely unlikely that suchgas is emanating from septic tanks since such systems exist at shal-low depths, and operate at low pressures unlikely to drive gases todepths of 20 ft or more.

4.2 Recommendations

In order to more fully understand the extent of the off-site migrationof the landfill gas from the Industrial Excess site, additional workis recommended as described below:

• Additional borings around the perimeter of the site to detail thesubsurface conditions (e.g., the areal extent of the "tight" siltlayer found at 50 ft).

• Soil testing to determine important characteristics of thevarious strata encountered.

• Installation of additional deep probes (like those already inplace) to better delineate the direction and distance of off-sitegas movement.

• More field and laboratory testing (e.g., 2 or 3 more rounds).

B:58415rpt/Dl

EXHIBIT 3

FIELD LADINGS ON BOREHOLES

11/7/84 Readings

Boring

LFG-1

LFG-2

LFG-3

Probe

ABCD

ABCD

AB

Depth(ft)

5122442

48

1727

48

CH4(*>

——

——

47534035

•» M

co2(x) o2(%)

—

—28262520

w w w v

ProbePressure

(in. of H20)

—

--

+0.02+0.02+0.02+0.02

__

CH4(%)

48503430

46454040

4040

11/8/84 Readings

co2(%) o2(%)

16272220 2.7

272726 1.526

2426 1.0

ProbePressure

(in. of H20)

0+0.04+0.04+0.05

+0.02+0.02+0.03+0.03

0+0.02

Notes:

-- Not recorded.

EXHIBIT 4

LABORATORY RESULTS ON BOREHOLES

Boring

LFG-1

LFG-2

LFG-3

Prot>e

ABCD

ABCD

AB

Depth(ft)

5122442

48

1727

48

11/7/84 ResultsCH4(%)

..——

29.726.538.631.9

__

C02(%)

„—--—

20.73.9

29.228.1

__

02(%)

„——--

8.13.91.21.2

•»•»

N2(%)

„———

41.532.131.038.8

. _

CH4(%)

17.0*49.032.731.3

33.243.88.2*

15.9*

22.737.9

11/8/84C02(%)

12.7*30.326.226.1

23.630.77.4*

13.8*

19.329.0

ResultsN2(%)

57.2*19.038.540.7

36.924.566.7*57.4*

49.031.8

02(%)

13.1*1.72.51.9

6.30.9

17.6*12.9*

9.01.4

Notes:-- Not recorded.* Laboratory personnel observed that these three burettes had little or no pressure,

are likely bad samples.Thus, these

APPENDIX A

BORING LOGS

8

WELL LOG SUMMARY

Well No.: LFG-1

Gas Probe Depth:A: 5'B « i ?'i f-____

D: 42'

Job: 58415 - Uniontown

Date: 11/6/84 to 11/8/84

Hell Drilling Log:

fZLeOsIEBrown

I Rmwn Sand & Gravel& Gravel tr. Silt . 3'.

____ 5'.. own-Gray Sand & Gravel 7.5'.

Brown Coarse Sand & Gravel(Moist)

Brown Fine SandPark Brown Fine Sand

42'J3.51

Well Construction/Backfill Log

ProbeA

ProbeB

Sand & Gravel. 3' RpntnnitP

ProbeC

7' Pea Gravel8" Sand & Gravel10' Bentonite

14' Pea Gravel

Sand & Gravel (drill cuttings)

Eptnnitp

ITPro'be—• D

26'Pea Gravel

Sand & Gravel (drill cuttings)

38')' RpntnnitP

.44' Pea Gravel

Brown Fine Sand (moist)!Vay Uet S5n3——————

Gray Silt, some Sand (moist)

59' .

Brown Sand & Gravel(drill cuttings)

59'

WELL LOG SUMMARY

Well No.: LFG-2

Gas Probe Depth:A: 4'B:

! C:D:

. *

Well Drilling

Top SOI 1

Grav Sand-Silt withBrown Sand & Gravel

8'17'27'

Log:

-*'Gravel 2.8'

5.3'Brown & Gray Sand and Grave IWith COfll and Sand<dmne ——— . 7.0'.Fragments.

Brown, Coarse SandGravel (moist)

and14'

'Vown Sand and Gravel (moist)

— 31.5'

Job: 58415 - Union town*

Date: 11/6/84

Well

|_

iProbeAProbeB

Probe• C

LProbeD

Construction/Backfill Log:

2'~ 3'

5'_ 6'

_ 10'

_ 13'

_ 15'

. 19'

. 24'

. 26

. 31.

Sand & GravelBentonitePea GravelRentonite

Pea Gravel

Sand & GravelBentonite

Pea Gravel

Sand and Gravel(drill currings)

BentonitePea Gravel

5'

10

WELL LOG SUMMARY

Well No.: LFG-3 Job: 58415 - Uniontown

Gas Probe Depth:

A: 4'

B: 8'

Well Drilling Log:

Irown $and - slag Fill 1'Brown Sand & Gravel 3'

Brown-Gray Sand & Gravel 6.3'Brown Coarse Sand & Gravel 8.8'

Brown Sand & Gravel 11.5'

Date: 11/7/84

tProbeA

ProbeB

Well

?3

Construction/Backfill Log

' Sand & Gravel1 Bentonite5' Pea Gravel

_ 6

11.

• Bentonite

Pea Gravel

5'

APPENDIX B

LAYOUT OF BORINGS ANDBAR PUNCH PROBES

12