EcoSorbent is a bioactive sorption and isolation material for the surface of waste disposal sites. The cover is laid in a thin layer over a cell, a transfer station or a sludge bed and works as an active operating layer rather than as passive isolation of the surface.
An open waste surface stays a source of several impacts at once: odour, dust, light fractions carried off by the wind, and contaminated surface runoff. The odour comes from the decomposition of the organic fraction, from reduced sulphur and nitrogen compounds and from volatile organic substances, and it grows stronger with high moisture, insufficient isolation and uneven operation of the surface. On sites next to housing and tourist routes it becomes a social matter as much as a technical one.
The material is intended to close that surface not with a passive dusting of soil but with a thin active operating layer. A single measure is not enough here: a one-off treatment, or a cover material with no properties of its own, leaves the moisture of the surface, the dusting and the contamination of the runoff unanswered, and those three tasks belong to the same problem and are closed by the same layer.
Soil cover reduces the contact of the surface with air, cuts the scattering of refuse and partly closes the source of odour, yet it stays passive: it binds no polluting compounds and sets no biological stabilisation of the surface. The price of it is measured in volume — soil takes up the usable capacity of the cell, adds to its mass, has to be delivered and is not always available in the quantity needed.
EcoSorbent is meant for different work: the layer is to form not merely a physical barrier but a sorption and biological surface, and it may therefore be thinner than ordinary soil cover while carrying more functions. Hence the demand it makes on handling — the cover is selected and applied as an engineering material, with a calculated thickness and interval, rather than tipped on as a chance mixture whenever complaints come in.
The layer stands between the waste and the air above it, and the first two functions belong to that boundary: the material is intended to reduce the release of odour from the waste surface and from areas where organics accumulate, while the sorption part binds some of the compounds that take part in forming odour or leave with the surface runoff. A third function of the same order is moisture regulation: a waste surface behaves unevenly under an excess and an uneven distribution of moisture, and the cover is designed to even out the moisture of the surface layer.
The second group of functions concerns the mechanics of the surface. On dry areas the layer is designed to reduce dust formation and the carry of fine particles by the wind, and a formed cover makes the surface layer more stable, which lowers the scattering of light fractions. Biological stabilisation of the organic mass stands apart in that row: it is declared as a possible use of the material, not as a property that shows itself at every site.
The cover is not brought onto the whole site at once. It is applied to fresh cells, to areas with pronounced odour, to zones with a high organic content, to grounds of temporary accumulation and to surfaces exposed to wind carry or producing contaminated runoff. A point-by-point and staged order of work makes it possible to start from the worst areas and calls for no immediate capital reconstruction of the site.
A separate direction is the grounds connected with sewage sludge and wet organic residue, where moisture, organics and reducing processes are present together and the risk of odour is higher. There the cover works as an upper stabilising layer: it lowers odour before the material is removed or treated further and smooths out the swings of surface moisture. The technology allows adaptation to local sources of plant or wood raw material.
Conditions at waste sites differ so much that carrying a solution from one landfill to another guarantees nothing: at one the odour problem is pronounced, at another the dusting, at a third the contaminated surface runoff, at a fourth the complaints follow the season. Selection therefore starts from an assessment of the site: the type of site and the character of the waste, the source of odour, the moisture of the surface, the presence of dusting, the risk of runoff and the area of the problem zone.
The assessment sets the thickness of the layer, the way it is applied and the interval of treatment, but the choice is proved on a limited area. A pilot area shows the reduction of odour, the stability of the layer, the behaviour of the material after rainfall and the actual consumption, refines the application technique and gives ground for a scaling calculation. The decision on regular treatment of the whole site is taken from that result rather than from a description of properties.
EcoSorbent is SOLVIA's own technological development aimed at reducing odour, dusting and the environmental impact of waste sites; it is being developed as a practical solution for landfills, transfer stations, sludge beds and other sites that call for an active sorption and isolation layer. The technical solutions are protected within the developer's patent strategy. The composition, the ratios of components, the process parameters and the particulars of preparing the material are not disclosed in open materials.
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