UNITEN ICE STUDENT CHAPTER

Bukit Tagar Sanitary Site Visit 2011 17th June 2011 Report

Do you know where the garbage that you throw daily goes? Do you know how the professionals manage the solid waste? These were the questions posed by Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN) Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Student Chapter at their Site Visit 2 Bukit Tagar Sanitary Landfill which was held on 17th June 2011. After arriving at the entrance of Bukit Tagar Sanitary Landfill (BTSL) at 9.15am, we were welcomed by the person in charge Mr. Zainal with his interesting presentation and some light refreshment. Through the presentation, we had learned more about the BTSL. BTSL is the premier sanitary landfill in Malaysia which developed by KUB Berjaya Enviro Sdn. Bhd. whereby to provide safe, efficient and environmental friendly solid waste management solution. It comprised 700-acre footprint with an additional 1000-acre buffer zone which is the first in Malaysia. BTSL is capable of providing over 40 years solution to the municipal solid waste and non-toxic waste in the Central region of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur. It is designed as a fully engineered Level IV landfill, which provide maximum protection to the environment, with full HDPE membrane liner, leachate collection and leachate treatment system which fully automated by SCADA system. Once the presentation finished, Mr. Zainal and his colleagues guide us to the power generator which run on the methane gas collected from the landfill area. Since 2009, BTSL has developed two gas flares to treat the landfill gas and now it is operating a 1.2 megawatt gas engine to generate electricity from methane gas. Furthermore, BTSL has implemented the Renewable Energy Power Purchase Agreement with TNB to supply green energy to the national grid for 21 years. We were able to see the bluishpurple flame burning inside the gas flares. This was an unforgettable experience. After the visit of the power generator, we continue our visit to the landfill area. The view is overwhelmed where the whole landfill area was well organized and it had changed our perspective of the landfill which usually unorganized and have unpleasant smell. After the waste is disposed in the designated tipping platforms, specialized compactors are used in the application of daily earth cover to maintain the hygiene, prevent odour and achieve maximum air capacity. Our next visit was the leachate management and treatment plant. The leachate treatment is fully automated by SCADA system which control all the pumps and valves, enabling the plant to operate automatically. The leachate treatment plant comprised 4 sequential batch reactor (SBR) lagoons, 24 aerators, chemical storage and dosing system, balancing tanks, sludge thickener and dissolved air flotation (DOF) plant. After the leachate undergoes biological process for 24 hours, it was transfer to the DOF plant to remove any residue. Treated leachate is conveyed to the reed beds which consist of Phragmites plant capable of absorbing residues in the treated leachate to further improve its quality. The residue from the DOF plant is then transferred to the sludge thickener and undergoes dewatering before it was transfer back to the landfill. Besides that, BTSL employs a zero-discharge policy on the treated effluent. The treated effluent undergoes last stage of manual checking before it is irrigated in a 120-acre field.

Around 12 noon we finished our visit at Bukit Tagar Sanitary Landfill. This site visit is a memorable one and we learned a lot of new knowledge and as a future civil engineers, we have the responsibility to create a cleaner and healthier living environment for our future generations.

Figure 1: The Participants in the Briefing Room.

Figure 2: The Bukit Tagar Sanitary Landfill

Figure 3: Sludge Thickener Tank

Figure 4: The Group Photo