Abstract
Physical chemical analysis of the Bizerte’s landfill leachate showed high amounts of ammoniacal nitrogen. Its treatment with combined process of coagulation/flocculation, Fenton and powder zeolite adsorption allowed a treated effluent with low content of nitrogen. The microtoxicity of raw and treated leachate was monitored by LUMIStox and its phytotoxicity was examined by seed germination/root elongation tests using seeds of Lycopersicon esculentum, Lolium perenne, Helianthus annus and Medicago sativa. Seedlings of the three species (Lycopersicon esculentum, Helianthus annus and Medicago sativa) were grown in pots, which irrigated with treated leachate at the median effective concentration (EC50) levels, NPK fertilizer and tap water as a control. LUMIStox tests showed that combined process allowed a significant toxicity removal. Treated leachate played fertilizing effect on plants growth. An increase in median effective concentration from 18% to 25% was observed. However, raw leachate showed lower median effective concentration levels varied between 4% and 5%. Results indicated that plants receiving treated leachate and fertilizer grew better than those receiving water alone. The growth of plants with treated leachate irrigation did not differ significantly from plants treated with fertilizer. Treated Leachate irrigation also improved soil N content. Indeed, soils amended with treated leachate had more extractable N concentration in comparison with control soil.
Highlights
Landfill leachate is a heterogeneous mixture consisting of refractory organic compounds, inorganic contaminants, heavy metals, humic, fulvic acids and high nitrogen concentrations [1]
Our results showed that the raw leachate (RL) was extremely toxic according to the method using V. fischeri, as the most sensitive bacterium
Our results suggest that application of treated leachate increased significantly the electrical conductivity of all treated soils (p
Summary
Landfill leachate is a heterogeneous mixture consisting of refractory organic compounds, inorganic contaminants, heavy metals, humic, fulvic acids and high nitrogen concentrations [1]. Leachates high load of organic matter, high nitrogen content and mass flux of transported contaminants impact plants heavily and can enter the food chain through vegetation around the site [5]. The high nitrogen levels may contaminate soil and phreatic groundwater [6]. Soil nitrogen availability has been long known to influence crop and root growth to have a direct impact on crop yield, attributing increased death rates for young individuals and leaf yellowing to insufficient nitrogen uptake [7,8]
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