Speciation and conversion of carbon and nitrogen in young landfill leachate during anaerobic biological pretreatment

TY - JOUR

T1 - Speciation and conversion of carbon and nitrogen in young landfill leachate during anaerobic biological pretreatment

AU - Li, Runwei

AU - Li, Liang

AU - Zhang, Zhiming

AU - Chen, Huan

AU - McKenna, Amy M.

AU - Chen, Gang

AU - Tang, Youneng

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2020 Elsevier Ltd

PY - 2020/4/1

Y1 - 2020/4/1

N2 - There is an increasing need for landfill leachate pretreatment prior to discharge to wastewater treatment plants due to increasingly stringent sewer discharge limits. Lab-scale tests have shown that the anaerobic biological processes can effectively remove chemical oxygen demand and dissolved organic carbon from landfill leachate. Our work expands the knowledge in anaerobic leachate pretreatment by systematically studying the conversion of carbon and nitrogen species, particularly their recalcitrant fractions in a submerged anaerobic biofilm reactor using real-world leachate from a typical young municipal solid waste landfill. After reaching steady state, the reactor removed 41.7% of the fulvic acids (i.e., 1290 mg C/L). While compounds with a low degree of oxidation (O:C < 0.2) and compounds with a low degree of saturation (H:C < 1) were removed, compounds that were more oxidized (O:C > 0.2) and more saturated (H:C > 1) were produced. At steady state, 98% of recalcitrant dissolved organic nitrogen (i.e., rDON = 222 mg N/L) was removed. Compared to the DON in the raw leachate, the produced DON in the pre-treated leachate were more oxidized (O:C > 0.35) and more bioavailable (N:C > 0.07). The submerged anaerobic biofilm reactor may be an efficient leachate pretreatment method if rDON removal is needed.

AB - There is an increasing need for landfill leachate pretreatment prior to discharge to wastewater treatment plants due to increasingly stringent sewer discharge limits. Lab-scale tests have shown that the anaerobic biological processes can effectively remove chemical oxygen demand and dissolved organic carbon from landfill leachate. Our work expands the knowledge in anaerobic leachate pretreatment by systematically studying the conversion of carbon and nitrogen species, particularly their recalcitrant fractions in a submerged anaerobic biofilm reactor using real-world leachate from a typical young municipal solid waste landfill. After reaching steady state, the reactor removed 41.7% of the fulvic acids (i.e., 1290 mg C/L). While compounds with a low degree of oxidation (O:C < 0.2) and compounds with a low degree of saturation (H:C < 1) were removed, compounds that were more oxidized (O:C > 0.2) and more saturated (H:C > 1) were produced. At steady state, 98% of recalcitrant dissolved organic nitrogen (i.e., rDON = 222 mg N/L) was removed. Compared to the DON in the raw leachate, the produced DON in the pre-treated leachate were more oxidized (O:C > 0.35) and more bioavailable (N:C > 0.07). The submerged anaerobic biofilm reactor may be an efficient leachate pretreatment method if rDON removal is needed.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85082113770

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85082113770#tab=citedBy

U2 - 10.1016/j.wasman.2020.03.011

DO - 10.1016/j.wasman.2020.03.011

M3 - Article

C2 - 32200251

SN - 0956-053X

VL - 106

SP - 88

EP - 98

JO - Waste Management

JF - Waste Management

ER -