Advanced treatment of aged landfill leachate through the combination of aged-refuse bioreactor and three-dimensional electrode electro-Fenton process

ABSTRACT

A combined process of the aged-refuse bioreactor (ARB)/three-dimensional electrode electro-Fenton (3D-EF) system was developed at lab-scale to treat aged landfill leachate. The optimum operating conditions were found to be 15 L/m³•d hydraulic loading rate for ARB; Fe²⁺ concentration 1.0 mM, initial pH 3.0, current density 30 mA/cm² and electrode distance 6 cm for 3D-EF. Under these conditions, the total removal ratios of chemical oxygen demand, NH₃–N, total phosphorus and colour were 96.2%, 94.3%, 99.2% and 93.6%, respectively. The microtoxicity of the leachate was substantially reduced after undergoing the hybrid treatment. The ARB process removed a considerable proportion of organic matter, while the 3D-EF system played an important role in removing the residue of recalcitrant substances and post-polish of final effluent. The combined process showed a promising potential for treatment of aged landfill leachate.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Aged refuse
• three-dimensional electrode
• electro-Fenton
• aged landfill leachate
• microtoxicity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This study was jointly funded by the Jiangxi Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 20171BAB203023], the Science & Technology Plan Projects of Education Department of Jiangxi Province [grant number GJJ181074], the Research Initiation Funds for the Ph.D. of Nanchang Normal University [grant number NSBSJJ2018017], and the Key Discipline Construction Project of Applied Chemistry of Nanchang Normal University [grant number NSXK20141003].