Dominant formation of unregulated disinfection by-products during electrocoagulation treatment of landfill leachate

Abstract

During the electrocoagulation (EC) treatment of landfill leachate, the production of chlorine species may result in the formation of harmful disinfection by-products (DBPs). This formation was investigated in the present study by monitoring five classes of DBPs (haloacetic acids-HAA, trihalomethanes-THM, haloacetonitriles-HAN, haloketones-HK, and halonitromethanes-HNM) in two leachate samples treated by EC. It was shown that the applied current has stimulated the formation of DBPs, which were dominated by unregulated DBPs. With a current density of 100 mA cm−2, the unregulated HK dominated the weight-based DBP concentration (96% in Leachate A and 44.3% in Leachate B), while the unregulated HAN contributed to >80% of the DBP additive toxicity in both leachates. The concentrations of regulated THM and HAA species were below US EPA regulations. The in situ generation of active chlorine has resulted in the DBP formation, as demonstrated in the scavenging test. Applying granular activated carbon as a post-treatment step could successfully reduce the total DBP concentration from 295.33 μg L−1 to 82.04 μg L−1 in Leachate A, leading to a total DBP removal of 72.2% and a toxicity removal of 50%. Given the dominant concentration and lack of toxicity information, the unregulated DBPs should receive more attention.