a brief description of how landfills + constructed wetland work:

Landfill:

About 32.5% of the trash is either recycled or composted, 12.5% is burned, and the rest, 55% is buried in landfills, however, the amount of trash buried in landfills has doubled since 1960.

What landfills generally are is a carefully designed structure built into or on top of the ground where garbage is then isolated from it's surrounding environments. The most common method is the used of a bottom liner and then daily coverings of soil to prevent flying garbage or raiding of pests, but because space is a precious commodity, many companies are now experimenting with tarps or spray on paper or cement emulsions.

There are generally 2 common types of liner, the sanitary landfill uses a clay liner and the municipal solid waste landfill uses a synthetic or plastic liner to isolate garbage from the environment. The purpose of the liner is to isolate it from groundwater so that the contents above will be kept drive and not in contact with air. Under these conditions, the decomposition process will slow, almost preserving the waste.



General overview:

A: Recycling Centres
B: Scale House
C: Access roads
D: Sanitary Landfill-
Closed
E: Municipal Solid
Waste Landfill
F: New Cell Prep
Area
G: Cell Being Filled
H: Storm Drainage
Collection
I: Leachate
Collection Pond
J: Methane Vent
K: Methane Piper
L: Methane Station
M: Monitoring Pipe
N: Run-off Collection
Basin
O: Storm Water
Drainage Basin
P: Storm Water Pipe
Q: To City Water
Treatment


A: Groundwater
B: Compacted Clay
C: Plastic Liner
D: Leachate Collection Pipe
E: Geotextile Mat
F: Gravel
G: Drainage Layer
H: Soil Layer
I: Oil Cells
J: New Cells
K: Leachate Pond

The cross-section drawing shows the structure of a typical municipal solid waste landfill and the arrows indicate the flow of leachate.

The basic parts of this system are:
- C - bottom liner that separates leachate from groundwater
- I + J - cells, both old and new where garbage is stored within the landfill
- D - Leachate collection system that collects water that has percolated through the landfill
- Storm water drainage that collects rainwater
- Methane collection system that collects the gas that is formed during the breakdown process.
- and lastly, the covering or cap that seals off the top of the landfill.


Storm water drainage that collects rainwater


Leachate pond that collects contaminants

The Leachate pond is then tested for chemicals: organic chemicals, pH, calcium, magnesium, iron, sulfate and chloride, are just some common chemicals they test for. After the testing, the water can be treated like any other sewage or wastewater and can happen insitu or exsitu. A method to reduce the volume of leachate water can be to recirculate it, making it more concentrated, but this poses a problem with the increase in concentration and possibly contamination.

It is also important to implement a methane collection system to collect the anaerobic byproducts, which is methane gas, during the natural landfill break down process in absence of oxygen. The reason for this is to prevent methane from exploding or burning, therefore a series of pipes embedded in the landfill is used to collect this gas, and in some cases, it is collected for natural energy, burned, or vented. Methane gas would then still be produced for a number of years after the landfill is capped, making it an ideal way of generating renewable energy.



The capping process is the last portion of the landfill where it will be covered permanently with a polyethylene cap and then 2 feet of compacted soil. Vegetation is then planted to prevent erosion and generally consists of shallow penetrating root type plants, such as kudzu and grass.

Constructed Wetland:

In my thesis, the constructed wetland acts as the leachate pond where the leachates will drain into the wetland for remediation.

Constructed wetlands are wastewater treatment systems composed of one or more treatment cells in a built and partially controlled environment. There are generally two types of wetlands, free water surface and vegetated submerged bed. For the wetland portion of the project, the thesis will utilize the free water surface method. Where free water surface constructed wetlands closely resemble natural wetlands in appearance and function, with a combination of open-water areas, emergent vegetation, varying water depth, and other typical wetland features. The components of this system include berms to enclose treatment cells, inlet structure that regulate and distribute influent wastewater evenly for optimum treatment, various combinations of open-water areas and fully vegetated surface areas, and outlet structures that allow adjustment of water levels within the treatment cell.



A Vegetated submerged bed wetlands consist of gravel beds that may be planted with wetland vegetation. A typical system also contain berms and inlet and outlet structures for regulation and distribution of wastewater flow. The vegetated submerged bed are not dependent on wetland vegetation for treatment performance and also do not require open-water areas. However, the success of the previous system is in view of the fact that the performance of constructed wetlands depends heavily on the ecological functions that are similar to those of natural wetlands, which are based largely on interactions within plant communities.





Sources:
Freudenrich, Craig. “How Landfills Work”, How Stuff Works, 2000, 14 Dec. 2009 http://science.howstuffworks.com/landfill6.htm

“Municipal Solid Waste”, United States Environmental Protection Agency, 13 Nov. 2008, 14 Dec. 2009 http://www.epa.gov/garbage/facts.htm info

United States. United States Environmental Protection Agency. Manual: Constructed Wetlands Treatment of Municipal Wastewaters. Cincinnati, Ohio: Office of Research and Development, 2000

Images:
1-5: Freudenrich, Craig. “How Landfills Work”, How Stuff Works, 2000, 14 Dec. 2009 http://science.howstuffworks.com/landfill6.htm

7-8: United States. United States Environmental Protection Agency. Manual: Constructed Wetlands Treatment of Municipal Wastewaters. Cincinnati, Ohio: Office of Research and Development, 2000

Robert Bean on Obsolescence and the Culture of Human Invention

http://www.robertbean.ca/
http://www.obsolescence.ca/bean.php


The research and creation associated with Obsolescence and the Culture of Human Invention is informed by the fact that material obsolescence in industrial culture is also the product of research methodologies. From as early as 1932, manufacturers from industrial economies have been actively researching and implementing the failure of design and technology into our lived experience. By scientifically quantifying and perfecting obsolescence in products, the continuous and accelerating consumption of manufactured products has been assured. The consequences of this development are considerable. Obsolescence, whether material or spiritual, becomes one of the most relevant developments of our time. The research associated with poetic and artistic creation may not share the methodologies of research formed by instrumental objectives. Culture, myth and metaphor are familiar to the process of creative and poetic research. How will artistic creation and research based in new technologies provide a renewed insight into the predicaments of obsolete things and experiences and how can this shape and influence the insight, future and wellbeing of our culture?

Obsolescence and the Culture of Human Invention will cover a three-year investigation into language, technology and artistic production in the context of digital media. The research documented and produced interdisciplinary artwork influenced by the culture and language of machines and obsolescence. The physical contact with the object was used as a procedure for remembering an obsolete technology that has influenced and predated his experience. The cultural complexity of the apparatus, its design, function, and mechanical precision were conveyed through this process of disassembly. The labour that fabricated and implemented the writing machine was also revealed. This project is an exploration of organic and inorganic memory through the borders and interface that continue to define the human experience with machines.

We are specifically interested in the creative and critical potential that technology and cultural obsolescence necessitates. Rather than presuming that obsolescence is inherently defined by loss and nostalgia, we will actively engage methods of creation that generate and inspire production concurrent with the processes of obsolescence. How can the excess of technological obsolescence inspire creative activities and circumstances?

There is an apparent contradiction in naming obsolescence as the subject of an extensive research project into creativity. Research methodology is traditionally associated with progress, development, and the brand new. Consequently, researching the imaginative and productive potentiality of outmoded culture and technology advances an inverse relationship that may appear obsolete to the conventional language of research. This is a critical paradox of our time as well as a principle question to investigate during the research / creation project. How are we as artists and producers affected by the experiences of obsolescence at this moment in time? How does this situation influence our perception, intuition, sensorial experience and our creative activities? The project profiled the ingenuity and resourcefulness that the artists brought to the contingencies of material and cultural obsolescence in an era of unprecedented technological advancement.

Protocell Manifesto

http://grayanat.posterous.com/manifesto-for-the-world-architecture-festival

A manifesto for protocell architecture: against biological formalism

1. We want to change the world with almost nothing.

It is possible to generate complex materials and architectures through harnessing the fundamental energetics of matter. In other words, doing more with less.

2. What we call protocell architecture is, at root, a piece of Dadaist and Surrealist research, in which all the lofty questions have become involved.

The novel self-assembling material systems that arise from protocell architectural practice make no reference to, nor attempt to mimic bio-logic. As such, protocell architecture is an alien to the natural world, yet speaks the same fundamental languages of chemistry and physics. The results of these conversations and interactions constitute a parallel biology and second biogenesis whose aesthetics are described by Surrealist agendas.

3. Architecture is dead, long live architecture.

Protocells constitute a disruptive technology for architectural practice since they are capable of reaching a transition point when evolution emerges within the system, the outcome of which is unpredictable and therefore offer novel and surprising ways of constructing architecture that will succeed and replace conventional technologies.

4. Protocell architecture swallows contrast and all contradictions including the grotesquery and illogicality of life.

Protocell technology is at the beginning of an evolutionary pathway that is connected to and dependent on the environmental conditions around it. The responsiveness of protocells to stimuli, means they can be regarded as computing units. Consequently, protocells do not seek to generate idealized architectural forms but reflect and interpret the full spectrum of the processes they encounter in the real world.

5. What is generally termed life is really a frothy nothing that merely connects.

Protocell technology offers an opportunity for architects to engage with the evolutionary process itself. Unlike natural biological systems that evolve randomly according to Darwinian evolution, protocell technology allows deliberate and specific interventions throughout the entire course
of its coming into being. By moving and metabolizing, protocells may form the basis for a synthetic surface ecology. These interventions are the basis of what we call protocell architecture.

6. We do not wish to imitate nature, we do not wish to reproduce nature, we want to produce architecture in the way a plant produces its fruit. We do not want to depict, we want to produce directly, not indirectly, since there is no trace of abstraction. We call it Protocell Architecture.

Protocell Architecture embodies the principles of emergence, bottom-up construction techniques and self-assembly. It is equipped with design handles' that enable the architect to persuade rather than dominate the outcome of the system through physical communication. As such, these systems are unknowable, surprising and anarchic.

7. We want to collage effective organic machinery that composes itself according to the drivers of biological design.

Protocell Architecture is chemically programmable and operates in keeping with the organizing principles of physics and chemistry.

8. We want over and over again, movement and connection; we see peace only in dynamism.

Protocell Architecture gathers its energy from the tension that resides at an interface between two media such as oil and water, which causes movement, disruption and change. Protocell Architecture resists the equilibrium since this constitutes death.

9. The head is round, so thoughts can revolve. The head of architecture is green, robust, synthesized and exists everywhere simultaneously, whether it is large or very, very small.

Protocell Architecture is fashioned from 'low tech biotech' characterised by ubiquitous, durable and affordable materials.

10. We wish to blur the firm boundaries, which self-certain people delineate around all we can achieve.

Protocell Technology becomes a co-author in the production of architecture through the possession of living properties and its ability to self-assemble.

11. We tell you the tricks of today are the truths of tomorrow.

Protocell Architecture is better adapted to the prevailing physical and social conditions since it is founded on a new set of technologies that are not 'alive' but which possess some of the properties of living systems. As such these technologies are qualitatively different to the industrial and digital technologies that have become the mainstream tools of the twentieth century.

12. We will work with things that we do not want to design, things that already have systematic existence.

Protocell Technology has the capacity to transform and modify existing building materials and architecture with the potential for surprise.

13. You know as much as we do that architecture is nothing more than rhythms and connections.

Protocell Architecture embodies the complexity of materials in a literal, rather than metaphorical manner and becomes a physical part of our existence.

14. We will construct exquisite corpses not dead but alive and useful.

Protocell Architecture is central to the understanding of living systems. It allows us to work with and enhance the unavoidable inconsistency which is the essence of life itself.

15. We deal in a second aesthetic, one that initiates beginnings and moulds with natural forces.

Protocell Architecture is connected to the environment through constant conversation and energy exchange with the natural world in a series of chemical interactions called 'metabolism'. This involves the conversion of one group of substances into another, either by absorbing or releasing energy - doing more with less.

Rachel Armstrong + Petrifying Objects

http://www.rachelarmstrong.me/

Rachel is currently collaborating with international scientists and architects to explore cutting-edge, sustainable technologies by developing metabolic materials in an experimental setting. These materials possess some of the properties of living systems and couple artificial structures to natural ones in the anticipation that our buildings will undergo an 'origins of life' style transition from inert to living matter and become part of the biosphere. By generating metabolic materials it is hoped that cities will be able to replace the energy they draw from the environment, respond to the needs of their populations and eventually become regarded as alive in the same way that we think about parks or gardens. Since metabolic materials are made from terrestrial chemistry they are not exclusive to First World countries and have the potential to transform urban environments worldwide.

Aucklantis:

Aucklantis is also a future city in New Zealand that floats on the sea over the site of Old Auckland after it had been flooded and destroyed due to rising sea levels. Aucklantis is the setting for conflict between old and new worlds, technologies and beliefs.The inspiration for the narrative comes from my fascination of the historic and geographic uniqueness of New Zealand and its relative isolation shaping its development since the age of the dinosaurs when the Moas ancestors were able to walk across the land bridges.Fascinating too is the utopian paradise.

By addressing traditional paradigms in the presence of modern invention, science fiction helps us address some of the deeper common issues of today that are at the core of our humanity.

Biolime: Mock Rock

On the effects of an emerging Living Technology, one that possesses some of the properties of living systems but is not actually alive (ISSP, Online), when it is introduced as a way of making the buildings of Mossville more sustainable, a suburb of the imaginary city of Hardwich, by coating their houses with Biolime, a synthetic rock that is capable of producing limestone by fixing carbon dioxide from the air. Although Biolime goes against the conscientious community's notion of what is natural they come to accept that all other methods of generating a more sustainable environment have not sufficient to reverse the carbon trend and new unnatural measures are justified.

The collaborators had produced a simple oil-in-water droplet emulsion that used carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to drive a chemical process that formed a rock-like salt called carbonate, commonly known as limestone. The resultant work was generally regarded as a fringe research activity though some years later the renewed interest in finding ways of dealing with the runaway carbon count. First World countries endorsed Biolime as the most immediate and effective way to combat climate change.

Cell-like agents used in the Biolime process did not have any genes. Biolime itself was not alive and although it shared some of the characteristics of living systems Biolime would die without the continued nurturing of the community. How it could be true that water could turn into rock?

A few weeks later those areas that had been sprayed with the Biolime solution began to transform and produce a moist, heavily patterned, whitish rock. Delicate crustings of this material appeared in gutterways and grew into stalactite fingers where water had accumulated. Small children picked at oddly shaped protrusions that were sometimes used by wildlife and the Biolime could also be found in places where it had not been deliberately applied.

Mossville had realised that if something as small as the chemical fragments of technology that constituted Biolime, could make such a difference to the health of the community, then the efforts of each individual, no matter how trivial, would make an ever greater difference in their collective quest to tackle the weighty issue of climate change.

Living Architecture:

Architects throughout the ages have likened the built environment to biological systems, but modern architecture is not alive since it is made of inert materials that are belligerent to and disconnected from the natural world. Yet, biology is far more important to architectural practice than just providing the inspiration for new forms and aesthetics. Biological processes are critical to architectural practice in terms of developing more dynamic and environmentally integrated materials.

Metabolic materials could be designed to extract carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from the air and release oxygen into the environment. Such materials could even perform new functions that are not found in nature and could safely remove toxins or nanoparticles from the environment and process them into safer substances. When the metabolisms were no longer active they could senesce and decay back into their components for recycling.

Speculative drawings by architect Christian Kerrigan shows one potential application of Metabolic Materials in the future by the sustainable reclaimation of Venice through growing an artificial reef underneath the historic city using the protocell technology.

Design and the Elastic Mind, MoMA

The exhibition highlights designers’ ability to grasp momentous changes in technology, science, and history—changes that demand or reflect major adjustments in human behavior—and translate them into objects that people can actually understand and use. This Web site presents over three hundred of these works, including fifty projects that are not featured in the gallery exhibition.

http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2008/elasticmind/

Over the past twenty-five years, people have weathered dramatic changes in their experience of time, space, matter, and identity. Individuals cope daily with a multitude of changes in scale and pace—working across several time zones, traveling with relative ease between satellite maps and nanoscale images, and being inundated with information. Adaptability is an ancestral distinction of intelligence, but today’s instant variations in rhythm call for something stronger: elasticity, the product of adaptability plus acceleration. Design and the Elastic Mind explores the reciprocal relationship between science and design in the contemporary world by bringing together design objects and concepts that marry the most advanced scientific research with attentive consideration of human limitations, habits, and aspirations.

Panzer, to me...

hi,

Nice to see you again,

I found couple of good blogs for you.

first the modern mechanix . This blog is amazing and funny at the same time. you can pull out a lot from it.

http://blog.modernmechanix.com/

Second , Bruce Sterling, he is the best. He has a book about the history of sci-fi. here his blog.

http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/

I will send you more
good luck