Treating leachate mixture with anaerobic ammonium oxidation technology

Abstract

Large amounts of ammonium and a low content of biodegradable chemical oxygen demand(COD) are contained in leachate from aged landfills, together with the effluent containing high concentration of nitric nitrogen after biochemical treatment. Treatment effect of anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) process on the mixture of the leachate and its biochemical effluent was investigated. The results show that the average removal efficiencies of ammonium, nitric nitrogen and total nitrogen are 87.51%, 74.95% and 79.59%, respectively, corresponding to the average ratio of removed nitric nitrogen to ammonium, i.e. 1.14 during the steady phase of anammox activity. The mean removal efficiency of COD is only 24.01% during the experimental period. The demand of total phosphorous for the anammox process is unobvious. Especially, the alkalinity and pH value of the effluent are close to those of the influent during the steady phase of anammox activity. In addition, it is demonstrated that the status of the anammox bioreactor can be indicated by the alkalinity and pH value during the course of the experiment. The anammox bioreactor has shown potential for nitrogen removal in the leachate mixture. However, COD and total phosphorous in the leachate mixture need further treatment for removal efficiencies of COD and total phosphorous are not good in the anammox bioreactor.