Leachate tank explosion - GIF

Leachate tank explosion.

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Previously:

https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...874#post190826
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...271#post184969
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...665#post170599
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...844#post137168
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...393#post135340

Spent years working on rubbish trucks and sometimes welding over old patches the burning leachate would explode out. You would end up spewing. I can still taste it watching something like this.

What is leachate and why does it explode?

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Originally Posted by awright

What is leachate and why does it explode?

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I asked myself the same question and then looked it up on Google. "Google is your friend".

"Leachate" is a new word for me. Had to look it up.

OK. So I looked it up. It is a liquid that has leached something out of soil that it has passed through (as I suspected). But what was it passing through and what did it pick up to become explosive? Ordinary landfill? I don't think methane will dissolve in water, but perhaps methane from decomposition of organic landfill could explode if it collected in pockets and oxygen was present. But the entire landfill appeared to lift up from a blast distributed over the entire area, not pockets. How did it get oxygen? There are an awful lot of municipal landfills around the country (and the world) and I haven't heard of many (any?) exploding. Burning, sure, but not exploding.

Interesting that the heading said "Leachate tank explosion," but it looked like the entire landfill exploded, not a tank.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by awright

What is leachate and why does it explode?

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Leachate in this instance is the liquid from anaerobically decomposed, some of the nastiest, stinking , vomit inducing black goop you will ever encounter. Usually associated with Methane gas. If you ever smell this stuff burn you will wish you hadn't.
In landfills there should be vent tubes deep down right to the base that bleed off the Methane gas as it develops. Usually flared off but some landfills use the gas to burn for heat, supplement incineration and/or power gensets for electricity.

Methane, and Hydrogen Sulphide, which is toxic and explosive, one of the 'interesting' gases I work with...