Reduction in hydraulic conductivity and organic contaminants through biofilm formation on porous media

Abstract

The creation of municipal solid waste produces serious ecological and community health problem throughout the world, particularly in emerging countries. Undeveloped scrapyards are the eldest and most communal method of solid waste disposal. If this is not properly managed, the migration of leachate from dump yards or landfills and the discharge of pollutants creates subsurface water pollution. Among different pollution measures, biofilm accumulation is the major choice. These studies indicate that biological barriers may be a promising technology to suppress pollutant plumes in the field. The present research focused on, the theory of biofilm aggregation in sand columns has been further to estimate the hydraulic conductivity of synthetic leachate and changes in organic pollutant concentration. Two different column research combinations were completed by using synthetic leachate as substrate solution. One column is used as a blank, and the other column is corrected with a mixed microbial culture separated from the leachate. The layered experimental mode using two different sizes of sand (0.3 mm and 0.6 mm) is used for column packing. The tower continuously supplies synthetic leachate for 50 days. Compared with the layered sand column, the hydraulic conductivity of the layered sand microbial column has the largest decrease, which is 88.42%. The analysis of organic pollutants in wastewater leachate also clearly shows that, compared with natural and synthetic liners used to control the migration of leachate in the underground environment, layered sand modified with microorganisms has appropriate remedial measures.