We recently delivered a refurbished BV300 to a landfill near Auckland, New Zealand. The machine known as Christine was originally built in the USA and used on some oil and gas projects there. It was first shipped to Brisbane where BeneTerra staff performed  

upgrades to meet Australia / New Zealand gas and electrical standards. The control program was also upgraded and metricised. 

BV300 headed to New Zealand

Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our crew was unable to travel to New Zealand. Commissioning has been a challenge without actually being on site.  Through videos and extensive communications with their counterparts in New Zealand they succeeded. The SCADA system and a cellular  modem allow them to communicate with the control panel and track performance along with the operators on site.

Depicted here (left to right) are staff members Steve Hillsdon, Alastair Berking, Billy Dean

and Tim Woods. Both Steve, whose wife is from New Zealand, and Alastair, a New Zealand citizen, have deep connections there and are anxious to be hands on but travel restrictions have challenged their ability to provide service remotely. 

L to R: Ashley Mason (Remondis), DeKeta Schuckman (BeneTerra), Tony Stapleton (BeneTerra), John Zupancic (BeneTerra), Colin Kangas (Remondis)

The 2019 Waste Management & Resource Recovery Association of Australia (WMRR) national innovation and excellence award for landfill operations was given to BeneTerra and Remondis for the Swanbank landfill leachate reduction project. By working closely with BeneTerra to integrate a BeneVap evaporator into their leachate gathering and disposal system, Remondis has been able to tightly manage and control leachate levels within the landfill. Previously, Remondis had recirculated the leachate upon the landfill cap in an effort to evapoconcentrate and that was only marginally effective. The new BeneVap system evaporates 30,000 litres per day from the system  leaving behind 5% residual that is deposited back in the landfill. hashtag#wastemanagement hashtag#WMRR hashtag#innovation hashtag#landfills hashtag#leachate

During Jason Choong’s second year of university he became interested in a soil science course that consisted of practical components and field work where he could be hands on working with soil profiles. He flourished under the mentorship of his honours professor. Now a graduate soil scientist, Jason feels that environmental stewardship is meaningful and important but often overlooked. He signed on because his honours project mirrored what BeneTerra puts into practice. He attained a Bachelor of Agricultural Science, with Honours, from the University of Queensland. His thesis focused on the Effect of basalt soil amendment on soil properties and plant growth. When he’s not researching or working, he enjoys a game of social badminton.

Along with his background working in environmental management, Calvin Leech has submitted his PhD in Soil Science with a Thesis that focuses on bio remediation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) contaminated soils using a composting process. The PAH compounds are generated during incomplete combustion materials such as coal and some of these PAHS are U.S EPA priority listed pollutants due to being known or potential cancer-causing compounds. During the study he determined the major limitations for the composting remediation strategy and implications for remediation of PAH contaminated MGP soils. Calvin has a Bachelor of Resource Management from the University of New England and is a PhD candidate in soil pollution research. He joined BeneTerra because of the unique opportunity to conduct applied soil science across a range of industries. In his free time, he likes to compose music, ride his mountain bike and play hockey.

Coby Seaborn joined BeneTerra as a supervisor because he enjoys working with a diverse range of clients and especially BeneTerra’s hands-on approach to environmental management of disturbed environments. “I’m looking forward to learning and gaining quality experience in disturbed land management,” he said.

He brings with him a variety of industry experience with past roles in water management; ground and surface, land protection, weed and feral animal control, community planning, and as an environmental coordinator in oil and gas. He holds qualifications in wilderness reserves and wildlife, as well as natural resource management.

Recently, BeneTerra was proud to be a Gold Sponsor at the National Soil Judging Competition in Toowoomba, hosted by Soil Science Australia. Chief Operating Officer, Tony Stapleton took time to speak with future soil scientists at the event. 

BeneTerra views these kinds of activities as key to promoting the field of soil science and to encourage the development of future soil scientists.The soil judging competition involved university students competing to correctly identify soil features, classify soil profiles and interpret soil capability. Congratulations to First Place; University of Sydney, Second place; University of Adelaide and third place; University of New England.

The ‘Soil Sleuths’ team of The University of New England

Chief Technical Officer, John Zupancic and chemical engineer, Harini Pani, presented a paper entitled, “Landfill leachate volume reduction and chemical transformation with BeneVap submerged combustion treatment” at the Waste Management Association of Australia Queensland (WMAA) Conference last October. Both presented findings of chemical analyses of leachate before and after evapoconcentration within the BeneVap system.

The BeneVap submerged combustion technology not only reduces leachate volume by more than ninety percent but several significant chemical changes were noted between the leachate and concentrate. For example; over ninety eight percent of the ammonia in the leachate was lost from the solution and numerous metals were made insoluble as they combined with carbonates, phosphate and silicate.

John Zupancic

When asked about the potential for source term depletion of leachate constituents over the life of a landfill cell, Zupancic said, “We believe that in the future, we will be able to customise previous and post treatment to optimise ammonia loss and sequester metals in the BeneVap concentrate.”

Pani specialises in predicting chemical transformation of varying leachate qualities to anticipate the effects of heating and concentration during the BeneVap treatment.  She performs lab bench simulations and runs computational models to estimate the effects of evapoconcentration. Currently, she’s gathering more empirical data to refine the predictive models.

John Zupancic is also Managing Director of BeneTerra with offices in Brisbane and Sheridan, WY, USA. His background in soil and water chemistry has aided in solving wastewater and land related problems for over 30 years.  He holds a BSc degree from Colorado State University and an MSc from the University of Nebraska.

Alastair Berking, our newest intern and avid rugby player, specifically chose BenTerra because it’s environmental services offered are unique and incorporate numerous ideas and concepts that are possible groundbreaking technologies in the near future. “I believe BeneTerra is the perfect place to be for that reason,” Berking said.

The fourth year Griffith University student is in his final stages of completing a Bachelor of Environmental Engineering. For the last two years, his primary focus has been wastewater and stormwater treatment systems.

The soon to be graduate has hit the ground running at our Toowoomba site. During his internship he’ll be assisting engineers on the active Benevap projects with tasks including; the conducting of experiments  and tests, collecting of data and compiling of operational/safety procedure  documents. It’s also the people at BeneTerra Alastair is enjoying “I like the practical application and collaboration of working with other engineers,” he said.

BV300 evaporating mixed leachate and stormwater

BeneTerra completed the evapoconcentration of landfill leachate that had made its way into a stormwater pond following weather events that followed Cyclone Debbie. The BV300 reduced 470,000 litres to 3,500 litres over a few days and nights during which time clean steam was released to atmosphere. The constituents in the leachate were concentrated and placed back into the landfill.