The recirculation and infiltration of leachate in landfills may be carried out to facilitate the flushing of contaminants and accelerate the stabilisation of waste. Flushing contaminants through recirculation relies on the movement of fluids through the landfill body to basal drains, which will predominantly be driven by gravity. Leachate recirculation and infiltration measures commenced at de Kragge II landfill (Bergen op Zoom, The Netherlands) in March 2018. Up to 90 m3/day of treated leachate is recirculated into the top of a 20 m deep, 5 ha landfill cell through 14 horizontal drains installed at the surface. Poor connectivity between the waste and the basal drainage system has resulted in saturated conditions forming in the lower 7-8 m of the landfill. Knowledge about the leachate flow within the waste body is essential for evaluating the success of the stabilisation measures. To investigate the flow regime within the saturated waste, 22 Single Borehole Dilution tests were carried out in 13 piezometers at different depths, between 8.4 and 18.1 m below ground level, and locations across the landfill cell. Tests were repeated in a number of the piezometers to demonstrate repeatability. Flow was measured in all piezometers. Calculated Darcy flow velocities ranged between 0.01 and 1.02 m/day, with the highest velocities measured in the deepest piezometers. Four tests were carried out in one nest of piezometers installed at different depths, with the leachate recirculation system switched off for two days prior to and during the test. Although flows were somewhat higher in two of the piezometers, it was not possible to conclude whether the infiltration of leachate significantly influences flow.@en

In-situ stabilization of waste bodies can be achieved by the infiltration of water or recirculation of leachate into the landfill, which is thought to enhance the microbial degradation of waste organics by (re-)moisturizing dry zones and flushing out metabolic products of organic matter decay. The success of in-situ stabilization should reflect in initially accelerated and thereafter reduced rates of anaerobic waste organic matter decay rates. This paper compares the methane generation that was modelled using the Afvalzorg multiphase model without the added effect of leachate recirculation with actually extracted methane in the landfill and gas generation on sampled wastes following five years of leachate recirculation on a Dutch landfill. Laboratory incubations revealed a methane potential between 0.03 kg CH4/t dw and 15.8 kg CH4/t dw for 365 days. Clear trends with respect to depth, moisture content, total organic carbon or share in hard plastics did not emerge as overall waste heterogeneity was high and likely obfuscated the correlation analysis. The results showed a recovery efficiency of 30.4% for 2021, with 0.07 kg CH4/t dw for the recovered methane and 0.23 kg CH4/t dw for the predicted methane in compartment 3. The average methane potential measured in the laboratory was almost twice as high as the remaining methane potential predicted for the period of 2021-2093. The discrepancy could be due to (i) enhanced waste degradability as a result of five years of recirculation, (ii) enhancing effects of material perturbation during sampling and/or (iii) impeded on-site methane generation and gas and water transport limitations due to presence of plastics. Overall, the laboratory incubations demonstrate a significant potential for waste biodegradation still residing in the waste.@en