TY - JOUR

T1 - Municipal landfill leachate characteristics and feasibility of retrofitting existing treatment systems with deammonification – A full scale survey

AU - Mohammad-pajooh, Ehsan

AU - Weichgrebe, Dirk

AU - Cuff, Graham

N1 - Funding information: This research was funded in part by Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst and the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung. The authors wish to thank Yvonne Schneider for providing valuable comments on draft version of this paper.

PY - 2017/2/1

Y1 - 2017/2/1

N2 - Leachate characteristics, applied technologies and energy demand for leachate treatment were investigated through survey in different states of Germany. Based on statistical analysis of leachate quality data from 2010 to 2015, almost half of the contaminants in raw leachate satisfy direct discharge limits. Decrease in leachate pollution index of current landfills is mainly related to reduction in concentrations of certain heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Cd, Hg) and organics (biological oxygen demand (BOD5), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and adsorbable organic halogen (AOX)). However, contaminants of concern remain COD, ammonium-nitrogen (NH4[sbnd]N) and BOD5 with average concentrations in leachate of about 1850, 640, and 120 mg/L respectively. Concentrations of COD and NH4[sbnd]N vary seasonally, mainly due to temperature changes; concentrations during the first quarter of the year are mostly below the annual average value. Electrical conductivity (EC) of leachate may be used as a time and cost saving alternative to monitor sudden changes in concentration of these two parameters, due to high correlations of around 0.8 with both COD and NH4[sbnd]N values which are possibly due to low heavy metal concentrations in leachate. The decreased concentrations of heavy metals and BOD5 favor the retrofitting of an existing biological reactor (nitrification/denitrification) with the deammonification process and post denitrification, as this lowers average annual operational cost (in terms of energy and external carbon source) and CO2 emission by €25,850 and 15,855 kg CO2,eq respectively.

AB - Leachate characteristics, applied technologies and energy demand for leachate treatment were investigated through survey in different states of Germany. Based on statistical analysis of leachate quality data from 2010 to 2015, almost half of the contaminants in raw leachate satisfy direct discharge limits. Decrease in leachate pollution index of current landfills is mainly related to reduction in concentrations of certain heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Cd, Hg) and organics (biological oxygen demand (BOD5), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and adsorbable organic halogen (AOX)). However, contaminants of concern remain COD, ammonium-nitrogen (NH4[sbnd]N) and BOD5 with average concentrations in leachate of about 1850, 640, and 120 mg/L respectively. Concentrations of COD and NH4[sbnd]N vary seasonally, mainly due to temperature changes; concentrations during the first quarter of the year are mostly below the annual average value. Electrical conductivity (EC) of leachate may be used as a time and cost saving alternative to monitor sudden changes in concentration of these two parameters, due to high correlations of around 0.8 with both COD and NH4[sbnd]N values which are possibly due to low heavy metal concentrations in leachate. The decreased concentrations of heavy metals and BOD5 favor the retrofitting of an existing biological reactor (nitrification/denitrification) with the deammonification process and post denitrification, as this lowers average annual operational cost (in terms of energy and external carbon source) and CO2 emission by €25,850 and 15,855 kg CO2,eq respectively.

KW - Anammox

KW - Deammonification

KW - Energy efficiency

KW - Leachate characteristics

KW - Leachate treatment

KW - Technology acceptance

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85006789298&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.10.061

DO - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.10.061

M3 - Article

C2 - 27836555

AN - SCOPUS:85006789298

VL - 187

SP - 354

EP - 364

JO - Journal of Environmental Management

JF - Journal of Environmental Management

SN - 0301-4797

ER -