Three-stage aged refuse biofilter for the treatment of landfill leachate

A field-scale aged refuse （AR） biofilter constructed in Shanghai Refuse Landfill, containing about 7000 m^3 aged refuse inside, was evaluated for its performance in the treatment of landfill leachate. This AR biofilter can be divided into three stages and can manage 50 m^3 landfill leachate per day. The physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of AR were analyzed for evaluating the AR biofilter as leachate treatment host. The results revealed that over 87.8%-96.2% of COD and 96.9%-99.4% of ammonia nitrogen were removed by the three-stage AR biofilter when the infiuent leachate COD and ammonia nitrogen concentration were in the range 5478-10842 mg/L and 811-1582 mg/L, respectively. The final effluent was inodorous and pale yellow with COD and ammonia nitrogen below 267-1020 mg/L and 6-45 mg/L, respectively. The three-stage AR biofilter had efficient nitrification but relative poor denitrification capacity with a total nitrogen （TN） removal of 58%-73%. The external temperature of AR biofilter did not influence the total ammonia nitrogen removal significantly. It was concluded that the scale-up AR biofilter can work very well and can be a promising technology for the treatment of landfill leachate.

Effect of bio-column composed of aged refuse on methane abatement-A novel configuration of biological oxidation in refuse landfill

An experimental bio-column composed of aged refuse was installed around the exhaust pipe as a new way to mitigate methane in refuse landfill.One of the objectives of this work was to assess the effect of aged refuse thickness in bio-column on reducing CH 4 emissions.Over the study period,methane oxidation was observed at various thicknesses,5 cm （small size）,10 cm （middle size） and 15 cm （large size）,representing one to three times of pipeline diameters.The middle and large size both showed over 90% methane conversion,and the highest methane conversion rate of above 95% occurred in the middle-size column cell.Michaelis-Menten equation addressed the methanotrophs diffusion in different layers of the bio-columns.Maximum methanotrophic activity （V max） measured at the three thicknesses ranged from 6.4 × 10 3 to 15.6 × 10 3 units,and the half-saturation value （K M） ranged from 0.85% to 1.67%.Both the highest V max and K M were observed at the middle-size of the bio-column,as well as the largest methanotrophs population,suggesting a significant efficiency of methane mitigation happened in the optimum zone with greatest affinity and methanotrophic bacteria activities.Therefore,bio-column is a potential style for methane abatement in landfill,and the aged refuse both naturally formed and artificially placed in the column plays a critical role in CH 4 emission.

Characterization of Methylocystis strain JTA1 isolated from aged refuse and its tolerance to chloroform

To accelerate the efficiency of methane biodegradation in landfills, a Gram-negative, rod-shaped, non-motile, non-spore-forming bacterium, JTA1, which can utilize methane as well as acetate, was isolated from the Laogang MSW landfills, Shanghai, China. Strain JTA1 was a member of genus Methylocystis on the basis of 16S rRNA and pmoA gene sequence similarity. The maximum specific cell growth rates （μmax= 0.042 hr-1, R2= 0.995） was derived through Boltzmann simulation, and the apparent half-saturation constants （Km（app） = 7.08 mmol/L, R2 = 0.982） was calculated according to Michaelis-Menton hyperbolic model, indicating that Methylocystis strain JTA1 had higher-affinity potential for methane oxidation than other reported methanotrophs. By way of adding the strain JTA1 culture, the methane consumption of aged refuse reached 115 mL, almost two times of control experiment. In addition, high tolerance of Methylocystis strain JTA1 to chloroform could facilitate the methane oxidation of aged refuse bio-covers. At the chloroform concentration of 50 mg/L, the methane-oxidation rate of bio-cover reached 0.114 mL/（day.g）, much higher than the highest rate, 0.0135 mL/（day.g）, of reported bio-covers. In conclusion, strain JTA1 opens up a new possibility for environmental biotechnology, such as soil or landfills bioremediation and wastewater decontamination.

Leachate treatment using a demonstration aged refuse biofilter

Approximately 7000 m^3 of aged refuse （AR） with a placement of over eight years was excavated from Shanghai Refuse Landfill, the largest landfill in China, and used for the construction of a two-stage bioreactor （AR biofilter） media for the biological treatment of 100 m3 of refuse landfill leachate. It was found that over 64% of COD, 96.9%-99.8% of NH4^＋-N, and 95.8%-99.8% of BOD5 could be removed by the AR biofilter, when the leachate with initial COD, BOD5, and NH4^＋-N concentrations were 986-4128 mg/L, 264--959 mg/L,m and 538-1583 mg/L, respectively. The corresponding concentrations in the effluent were reduced to below 30（000 mg/L, 2-12 mg/L, and 10-20 mg/L, respectively. The effluent was clear and pale yellow with suspended solid below 150 mg/L and color below 150 Pt/Co degree. Meanwhile, the total nitrogen removal was only 49%-63%, indicating a relative poor denitrification capacity of AR biofilter. The effluent pH was neutral and the population of Escherichia coli was less than 10^-1 CFU/mL. Hence, it was considered that the demonstration project can work well for the effective treatment of leachate.

Methanotrophic community structure of aged refuse and its capability for methane bio-oxidation

Aged refuse from waste landfills closed for eight years was examined and found to contain rich methanotrophs capable of biooxidation for methane. Specially, community structure and methane oxidation capability of methanotrophs in the aged refuse were studied. The amount of methanotrophs ranged 61.97×10^3-632.91×10^3 cells/g （in dry basis） in aged refuse from Shanghai Laogang Landfill. Type I and II methanotrophs were found in the aged refuse in the presence of sterilized sewage sludge and only Type I methanotrophs were detected in the presence of nitrate minimal salt medium （NMS）. The clone sequences of the pmoA gene obtained from the aged refuse were similar to the pmoA gene of Methylobacter, Methylocaldum, and Methylocystis, and two clones were distinct with known genera of Type I methanotrophs according to phylogenetic analysis. Aged refuse enriched with NMS was used for methane biological oxidation and over 93% conversions were obtained.

The acceleration degradation processes of different aged refuses with the forced aeration for landfill reclamation

Forced aeration is one of the promising ways to accelerate landfill reclamation,and understanding the relation between aeration rates and waste properties is the prerequisite to implementing forced aeration under the target of energy saving and carbon reduction.In this work,landfill reclamation processes with forced aeration were simulated using aged refuses(ARs)of 1,4,7,10,and 13 disposal years,and the potential of field application was also investigated based on a field project,to identify the degradation rate of organic components,the O_(2)consumption efficiency and their correlations to microbes.It was found that the removal rate of organic matter declined from 20.3%(AR_(1))to 12.6%(AR_(13)),and that biodegradable matter(BDM)decreased from 5.2%to 2.4%at the set aeration rate of 0.12 L O_(2)/kg waste(Dry Matter,DM)/day.A linear relationship between the degradation rate constant(K)of BDM and disposal age(x)was established:K=−0.0002193x+0.0091(R^(2)=0.854),suggesting that BDM might be a suitable indicator to reflect the stabilization of ARs.The cellulose/lignin ratio decrease rate for AR1(18.3%)was much higher than that for AR13(3.1%),while the corresponding humic-acid/fulvic-acid ratio increased from 1.44 to 2.16.The dominant bacteria shifted from Corynebacterium(9.2%),Acinetobacter(6.6%),and Fermentimonas(6.5%),genes related to the decompose of biodegradable organics,to Stenotrophomonas(10.2%)and Clostridiales(3.7%),which were associated with humification.The aeration efficiencies of lab-scale tests were in the range of 5.4–11.8 g BDM/L O_(2)for ARs with disposal ages of 1–13 years,and in situ landfill reclamation,ARs with disposal ages of 10–18 years were around 1.9–8.8 g BDM/L O_(2),as the disposal age decreased.The increased discrepancy was observed in ARs at the lab-scale and field scale,indicating that the forced aeration rate should be adjusted based on ARs and the unit compartment combined,to reduce the operation cost.

Particle size distribution of the organic matters in the treated leachate using aged-refuse-bioreactor

Micro-filtration membrane （1.2 μm）, hyper-filtration membrane （0.45 μm） and nano-filtration membrane （1000 Dalton） were used to characterize the particle size distribution of the organic matters in effluent leachate treated by the aged-refuse-bioreactor（ARB） installed at Laogang Refuse Landfill, Shanghai. The results showed that the particle size distribution of the treated fresh and aged leachate using the ARB were quite consistent. The organic matter with particle size below 1000 Dalton accounted for about 90%, balanced with the suspended （〉1.2 μm） and colloidal （1000 Dalton-l.2μm） matters. Hence, it is proposed that coagulation, nano-filtration and electrically chemical oxidation may be not applicable for the advanced treatment for the effluents to reach the discharge standard limit value defined in Chinese national Standard for Pollution Control on the Landfill Site of Municipal Solid Wastes （GB16889-2008）, CODCr〈100 mg/L. Aged refuse bioreactor combined reverse osmosis was suggested as an economically and technically feasible technology to treat sanitary landfill leachate.