Introduction

I joined the Civil Engineering Department at NC State University in August 1989 after completing my Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin in 1988 and after spending a year as a research scientist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Laboratory for Groundwater Research (Ada, OK). I am one of 11 faculty members in the Water Resources and Environmental Engineering area of the Civil Engineering Department.

My research includes three major areas:

• Biological, Chemical, and Physical Processes in Landfills
• Integrated Solid Waste Management
• Geoenvironmental Engineering

1. work on the influence of special wastes on methane yields and leachate quality
2. techniques to enhance methane yields in landfills including the operation of landfills as bioreactors
3. work on enhanced methane oxidation in landfill covers for emissions mitigation
4. work to understand the long-term behavior of waste in landfills and to develop strategies for long-term landfill management

In addition, my laboratory is working with a number of landfills throughout the U.S. and Canada to monitor waste decomposition by measurement of the following parameters on excavated waste samples: moisture content, cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, volatile solids, biochemical methane potential. To conduct these analysis, we first shred the refuse on arrival, dry it to measure the moisture content and then grind it to a fine powder in a wiley mill. Chemical analyses are conducted on ground refuse. An example of the application of solids monitoring to a bioreactor landfill is described in Mehta et al. (2002). The full reference is provided in my Publication List.

Integrated Solid Waste Management

I collaborate with Drs. E. Downey Brill and S. Ranji Ranjithan on research to identify optimal strategies for solid waste management in consideration of both cost and environmental burdens using life-cycle analysis. We have developed a model that has the capability to evaluate large numbers of alternatives for solid waste management and to identify alternatives that are optimal with respect to a user-identified objective that could be cost, energy consumption, or an environmental emission (e.g. carbon monoxide, greenhouse gases). The model makes it possible to evaluate tradeoffs between competing objectives (e.g. cost and recycling rate). The model is described in Solano et al. (2002a&b).

For more information about my ongoing research, please select Research Abstracts from the list of contents; or for my representative publications list, please select Publications.