Abstract
Municipal solid waste in developing countries especially in Africa are commonly managed by discharging in uncontrolled landfill. This leads to the generation of huge amounts of leachate that are rejected in the nature without any treatment. This study consisted in characterizing the leachate from the Landfill of Akouedo in the District of Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire) despite the completion of filling operations in 2019. The physico-chemical composition of raw leachate suggested a stabilized landfill, with alkaline pH (i.e. ~ 8.85±0.03). However, the concentrations of nutrients and organics such as NH 4 + (212.5±0.31 mg.L -1 ), NO - 2 (257.5±0.42 mg.L -1 ), NO - 3 (301.85±0.16 mg.L -1 ), BOD 5 (1015±0.12 mg O 2 L -1 ) et COD (9640±0.4 mg O 2 L -1 ) obtained in Landfill of Akouedo were slightly weak, compared to the FEPA’s standard (1991). This could confirm the stabilization of the leachate, with a BOD 5 / COD ratio of around 0.1 ± 0.05. In addition, most of the metallic trace element contents (i.e. Iron, Copper, Nickel, Zinc and Lead) were below FEPA’s standard (1991). To further investigate, humic acid (HA), fulvic acid (FA) and humin were extracted from the humic substance of this leachate. Thus, about 91 % and 9 % were obtained for humic acid and fulvic acid + humin, respectively. For better understanding, synthetic humic acid (SHA) was used as the reference material. The DRIFT analysis helped determine some difference between the LHAs of the leachate and SHA. However, the characteristics of the functional groups of the LHA and SHA molecules were essentially similar. The data on the characteristics of the HS shown in the results of the landfill leachate can be used in several related research areas, such as the optimization of leachate treatment processes and the remediation of groundwater contaminated with leachate. Keywords : Municipal solid waste, Landfill, Leachate, humic substance, humic and fulvic acid. DOI: 10.7176/JEES/10-4-03 Publication date: April 30 th 2020
Highlights
The population growth causes an intensification of socio-economic activities
Alkaline leachate was obtained from several landfills such as the municipal solid waste landfill site in Ibadan, Nigeria (Aluko et al, 2003)
The characteristics of landfill leachate depend on several parameters (Wang et al, 2003), the common characteristics of stabilized leachate are high resistance of NH3–N (3,000 –5,000 mg.L-1) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) (5,000 –20,000 mg.L-1), as well as a low ratio of Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)/COD (Li et al, 2002)
Summary
The population growth causes an intensification of socio-economic activities (trade, industry, agriculture, etc.). This leads to an increase in solid waste generation. Municipalities have to deal with huge amounts of solid waste. In developing countries, the preferred way of solid waste management is disposing of in uncontrolled landfills (Zalaghi et al, 2014). The major and unavoidable concern with an uncontrolled landfill is the mismanagement of leachate that causes serious environmental issues (Baccini et al, 1987). Their rejection in the nature without any treatment results in pollution of soil, water and wildlife, greenhouse gas emissions, health impacts, etc. Their rejection in the nature without any treatment results in pollution of soil, water and wildlife, greenhouse gas emissions, health impacts, etc. (Kouame et al, 2006; Sang et al, 2010; Zhao et al, 2012)
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