Effects of ageing on elution behaviour of nitrogenous compounds in disposed wastes from landfill sites

Abstract

Comparative studies of elution and cation exchange capacity (CEC) tests were applied to aged and fresh municipal and industrial solid wastes to examine the effects of ageing on the long-term elution behaviour of nitrogen on leachate in municipal and industrial solid waste landfill sites. Nitrogen in the leachate gradually eluted as organic nitrogen, but not upon transformation of organic nitrogen to elutable inorganic nitrogen compounds in the solid waste. Ammonium in the solid waste, retained similar to its interaction with clay minerals in soil, elutes when exposed to leachate by being replaced with highly concentrated cations or loses its positive charge in high pH in the leachate, which percolates down from the upper layer of the disposed waste. The quantity of ammonium adsorbed into the aged wastes through CEC measurement process by replacement with ammonium acetate was higher than that onto the fresh wastes. That difference in quantities can serve as an index of the ability of the solid waste to withhold ammonium in the leachate that percolates down the landfill layer. Those results demonstrate that ammonification of organic nitrogen in the waste is not the crucial step of the elution of nitrogenous compounds into leachate.

Keywords:

• municipal solid waste landfill site
• landfill leachate
• cation exchange capacity
• stabilization
• ammonia

Acknowledgements

This study was a part of the research that the Japan Waste Management & 3R Research Foundation (JWRF) conducted by the contract with the Osaka Bay Regional Offshore Environment Improvement Center during 2010–2012. I extend my gratitude to the staff of the Osaka Bay Regional Offshore Environment Improvement Center for their help in sample collection. I also appreciate two anonymous reviewers for their critical comments.