The Problem
WM’s Grand Central Landfill operates a Lechate Treatment Plant. They began by dewatering with a plate and frame press. However, their dewatering press proved unable to remove any of the carbon-laden fine solids in the lechate sludge waste. Out of desperation, they began pumping this sludge to their lagoon and holding tanks. Eventually, they began to run out of places to put this sludge and needed a fast, effective way to remove this material from their process.
The P&H Senesac Solution
In november 2007, WM contacted us about renting one of our machines for 30 days to remove some of the solids from the lechate waste. We went them our Spartan System and provided them with two weeks of training for their operators. They were stunned by how easily and effectively they could dewater with our Spartan System. In fact, they kept the machine an extra 15 days (through the Christmas and New Year’s holiday) in order to remove as much accumulated solids from their process as possible.
However, there remained more unfinished work to their process. They pumped much of the previously mentioned waste to a tank and lagoon. Unfortunately, they could not access the location where they had set up our Spartan System due to the cold temperatures. In May 2008, they hired us to return in order to clean out their lagoon as well as another lechate holding tank. For this project, we used a cutting-edge, prototype centrifuge which we configured to work with our proven Spartan System. We removed 100 dry tons of solids from their process, putting a marginal amount of solids back to their plant.
WM’s personnel was so impressed by the performance of the centrifuge in processing their waste solids that they eventually replaced. However, they still needed a contractor with the expertise on moving solids out of their holding structures. So, in June, 2013, they contracted P&H to come in and remove the sludge from one of their leachate holding tanks. Coordinating with the plant personnel, P&H pumped the leachate waste solids to the holding tank feeding WM’s centrifuge.