Biological Leachate Treatment Research Articles

Bio-chemical treatment of landfill leachates with high load of organic and nitrogen compounds

This research encompassed an 8-month investigation to evaluate the biological treatment of complex landfill leachates. The primary objectives were the removal of organic and nitrogen compounds, as well as the mitigation of H2S and VOC emissions. Biological treatment was conducted within a sequencing batch reactor (SBR), incorporating aerobic, anaerobic, and anoxic stages. The results indicate that biological treatment is indeed effective in eliminating biodegradable organic matter, with an average removal rate of 84.5% for BOD5, 42.7% for COD, and 40.9% for TOC. Nonetheless, it is imperative to integrate supplementary processes to enhance organic removal. It is worth noting that biological nitrification proved inadequate for sufficiently reducing elevated ammonia concentrations, achieving only a 23.2% reduction. In controlled laboratory conditions, the utilization of chemical precipitation, employing either MgO+H3PO4 or MgCl2.6 H2O+Na2HPO4.7 H2O in an equimolar ratio of Mg:NH4:PO4, exhibited substantial ammonia removal rates of 76.8 ± 6.4% and 80.7 ± 4.5%, respectively. Additionally, the incorporation of an anoxic stage in reactor operation demonstrated its effectiveness in achieving proficient denitrification, with an 80% removal rate for nitrates present in the raw leachates. These findings underscore the potential for optimizing the efficiency of biological leachate treatment processes through strategic modifications and the integration of additional treatment steps.

Landfill leachate treatment with a full-scale membrane bioreactor: impact of leachate characteristics on filamentous bacteria.

Bulking and foaming are extreme filamentous bacterial growths that present serious challenges for the biological leachate treatment process. The current study evaluates the performance of long-term full-scale membrane bioreactor (MBR) treating landfill leachate, specifically focusing on filamentous bacteria overgrowth in the bioreactors. The influence of the variation in leachate structure and operational conditions on floc morphology and filamentous bacteria overgrowth were analyzed for 11months of operation of the full-scale MBR system. The average chemical oxygen demand (COD) and NH4-N removal efficiencies of the system were 87.8 ± 4% and 99.5 ± 0.7%. However, incomplete denitrification was observed when the F/M ratio was low. The high C/N ratio was observed to enhance the frequency of small flocs. Furthermore, a poor to medium diversity of the microbial community was observed. Haliscomenobacter hydrossis, Microthrix parvicella, and Type 021N were found as the most numerous filamentous organisms. Paramecium spp., Euplotes spp., and Aspidisca spp. were found in small quantities. The limited concentration of PO4-P in the leachate compared to high COD and NH4-N concentrations most probably caused phosphate deprivation and increased abundance of identified filamentous microorganisms. This work is the first study in Türkiye that investigates the bulking and foaming problem in full-scale MBR that treats landfill leachate. Hence, it may provide some pioneering perspectives into landfill leachate remediation by monitoring the hybrid biological system.

Biological treatment of leachate from the uncontrolled landfill: evaluation of toxicity and heavy metals reduction

ABSTRACT This work assesses the efficiency of biological processes in reducing leachate toxicity, using tests of phytotoxicity, cytotoxicity and heavy metals assay. Concerning metal load of raw leachate, iron is the most abundant with a value of 77.23 mg/L; combined treatment is most effective in reducing metals with abatement rates of: Al (94.96%), Fe (99.23%), Pb (90.53%), Sn (90.25%) and Zn (90.43%). The phytotoxicity of raw leachate is total against all tested seeds, this phytotoxicity was decreased after treatment with SBR, and the germination indices are between 3.60%−65.36%, 0.25%−39.99% and 5.36%−35.55% respectively for Daucus carota, Lactuca sativa and Hordeum vulgare seeds. Leachate treated with the combined treatment exhibits no inhibition of germination even at concentrations of 100%. Regarding cytotoxicity assessed via Brine Shrimp test, raw leachates were cytotoxic killing all Artemia salina larvae even at low concentration of 1%. After the treatments, cytotoxicity of leachate was decreased especially in leachate treated by SBR and combination with inhibition percentages up to 16.66%. The experimental results obtained were confirmed using PCA which showed that the SBR and combination treatments have common purification characteristics and also the inverse correlation between heavy metal concentrations and germination indices indicate that these metals are involved in leachate toxicity.

Effects of the Integrated Water Temperature Management System on Biological Leachate Treatment in SUDOKWON Landfill Site

Effects of the Integrated Water Temperature Management System on Biological Leachate Treatment in SUDOKWON Landfill Site

A review of the biological treatment of leachate: Available technologies and future requirements for the circular economy implementation

Leachate, which refers to dark-colored toxic wastewater generated from landfills, has become an issue of environmental concern, posing a threat to soil, surface water, and groundwater quality, thereby negatively affecting humans’ health. Therefore, it is necessary to select the most appropriate leachate treatment methods considering its complex properties. Among several treatment processes available for this purpose, the biological treatment process is notably effective at removing pollutants and also relatively affordable to operate. Its application to leachate treatment has received much attention in recent years. This study summarizes the leachate characteristics and the methods of leachate treatment with a focus on biological approaches, either aerobic or anaerobic. In addition, this paper concisely discusses the effectiveness and the factors influencing the performance of each treatment technology in case of organics, nutrients, and other pollutants removal. The findings of this paper are expected to provide a deeper insight into the future research and development of leachate treatment, especially the biological treatments concerning the circular economy.

Bioaugmentation process for the treatment of leachate collected from controlled landfills in Fez city-Morocco

ABSTRACT Bioaugmentation uses microorganisms to detoxify or remove concentrated contaminants from any polluted media. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of biological treatment of leachate using microbial strains isolated from leachate. Eight strains were chosen for their capacity to oxidise organic matter and their resistance to heavy metals (Cr, Fe, Zn, and Ni). They were inoculated separately at different concentrations (2%, 4%, and 6%). The results obtained show significant reduction of the pollutant load using these bacterial species.

Changes of a Landfill Leachate Toxicity as a Result of Treatment With Phragmites australis and Ceratophyllum demersum–A Case Study

Most phytoremediation studies are limited to several of the most common plants and in most cases these studies are performed to a very limited extent. There are also few publications on the assessment of the effectiveness of the removal of pollutants, performed simultaneously with various plants and using physicochemical analyses as well as toxicity tests. Therefore, the conducted studies focused on assessing the removal of pollutants from leachate by physicochemical analyses and toxicity tests. The leachate was collected from four municipal waste landfills of different ages (2 non-operational facilities and 2 active). The studies were conducted for two biological systems: using emergent macrophytes (Phragmites australis) and submergent macrophytes (Ceratophyllum demersum L.). It has been observed that efficiency of biological treatment of leachates with Phragmites australis and Ceratophyllum demersum shows significant differences at lower concentrations of solutions. Even after the treatment with Phragmites australis and Ceratophyllum demersum, the analyzed leachate samples produced a toxic effect on the test organisms. A reduction or no toxicity of the leachate after the biological treatment was observed only in some cases. The observed effects of the biological leachate treatment were not conclusive. Particular attention should be paid to the persistent toxicity, which can pose a real threat to the environment when discharging leachates after treatment.

Scaling-Up and Long-Term Operation of a Full-Scale Two-Stage Partial Nitritation-Anammox System Treating Landfill Leachate

(1) Background: Biological treatment of leachate in landfill sites using anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) is challenging because of the intrinsic characteristics of this complex wastewater. In this work, the scale-up and subsequent full-scale implementation of the PANAMMOX® technology (LEQUIA Research Group, Girona, Catalonia, Spain) are presented as a case study to achieve long-term nitrogen (N) removal from mature leachate mostly through a completely autotrophic pathway. (2) Methods: The treatment system consists of two sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) running in series to individually operate partial nitritation (PN) and anammox (A). Following biological treatment, physicochemical oxidation (i.e., Fenton-based process) was used to remove the remaining non-biodegradable organic matter. A cost analysis comparative was conducted in relation to the former technology used on-site for treating the leachate. (3) Results: The scale-up of the process from pilot- to full-scale was successfully achieved, finally reaching an average removal of 7.4 kg N/d. The composition of the leachate changed over time, but especially once the landfill site stopped receiving solid waste (this fact involved a marked increase in the strength of the leachate). The adjustment of the alkalinity-to-ammonium ratio before feeding PN-SBR helped to improve the N-removal efficiency. Values of conductivity above 25 mS/cm in A-SBR could negatively affect the performance of the anammox process, making it necessary to consider a dilution strategy according to the on-line monitoring of this parameter. The analysis of the operational costs showed that by implementing the PANAMMOX® technology (LEQUIA Research Group, Girona, Catalonia, Spain) in the landfill site, savings up to 32% were achievable. (4) Conclusions: Treatment of mature landfill leachate in such a two-stage PN-A system was demonstrated as feasible and economically appealing despite the complexity of this industrial wastewater. Accurate expert supervision of the process was a key factor to reaching good performances.

Research of landfill leachate treatment based on anammox

Landfill leachate has the characteristics of high ammonia nitrogen content, high concentration of organic matter and low carbon nitrogen ratio. Traditional biological treatment technology is difficult to meet the increasingly stringent emission standards. Ammonia nitrogen is the main pollutant in landfill leachate. The ammonia-nitrogen-rich leachate not only poses a threat to the surrounding environment, but also has adverse effects on the subsequent biological treatment of leachate. Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (Anammox) is a new biological denitrification technology, which has the advantages of high denitrification capacity and low energy consumption, and is suitable for the treatment of landfill leachate. This article from the process type, inhibiting factors and microbiology at home and abroad are reviewed in three aspects: the anaerobic ammonia oxidation treatment, the research progress of landfill leachate by analyzing the national environmental protection agency of leachate quality related data in the database, and combining previous research results, reveals the infiltration drain liquid ammonia nitrogen in the different conditions of concentration variation characteristics, for anaerobic ammonia oxidation treatment of landfill leachate to provide the reference for engineering applications.

Biological treatment of leachate from stabilization of biodegradable municipal solid waste in a sequencing batch biofilm reactor

The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of pollutant removal in sequencing batch biofilm reactors (with floating or submerged carriers) when treating nitrogen- and organic-rich real leachate generated during aerobic stabilization of the biodegradable municipal solid waste. A control reactor contained suspended activated sludge. The share of leachate in synthetic wastewater was 10%, which resulted in ratios of chemical oxygen demand and biochemical oxygen demand to total Kjeldahl nitrogen in the influent of ca. 11 and ca. 8.5, respectively. Regardless of whether the reactors contained carriers or not, the effectiveness of nitrification (84.2–84.3%) and of the removal of chemical oxygen demand (86.5–87.0%), biochemical oxygen demand (95.5–98.0%) and ammonium (88.9–89.3%) did not differ. However, the presence of carriers and their type determined in which phase of the cycle denitrification occurred. In the control reactor, denitrification took place during mixing phase with the effectiveness of ca. 43.2% (57.7% of the total nitrogen removal). During aeration, the oxygen content increased rapidly, thus reduced the possibility of simultaneous denitrification. In reactors with carriers, in the aeration phase, not only nitrification but also denitrification occurred. The increase in oxygen content in wastewater was slower, which could have caused dissolved oxygen gradients and anoxic zones in deeper layers of the biofilm and flocks. In the reactor with floating carriers, the effectiveness of denitrification and total nitrogen removal increased 1.23- and 1.10-times, respectively, as compared to the control reactor. The highest efficiencies (67.7% and 73.0%, respectively) were observed in the reactor with submerged carriers.

Biological treatment of landfill leachate: efford landfill, Hampshire, UK - a case study

Demand for of on-site treatment schemes that are capable of treating landfill leachates to highstandards has grown substantially during the last two decades. Increasingly, plants are beingrequired to discharge high quality effluents directly into surface watercourses, or to provide ahigh degree of treatment prior to discharge into the public sewerage system. This trend is certainto continue - primarily driven in the United Kingdom in recent months by the requirements of theEU IPPC Directive, which demands the application of Best Available Techniques (BAT), and bythe EU Water Framework Directive.Aerobic biological treatment of leachate from domestic landfills has widely been shown to be themost appropriate, reliable and successful treatment technique to consistently meet stringentdischarge constraints with minimal operator input. The cost of this technology is also oftenfavourable, when compared with alternative processes. More than 50 plants of this type arecurrently operational in the United Kingdom, making it by far the most widely adopted on-sitetreatment technology, and many other examples exist overseas.This paper provides a detailed case study of the design, construction and commissioning of abiological, Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) leachate treatment plant for Hampshire CountyCouncil, at Efford Landfill Site in the New Forest in Hampshire, UK.Since plant commissioning was completed by the authors during early 2003, extensive anddetailed monitoring data have been collected. These are presented for the plant, which is capable 3 of treating up to 150 m /day of strong methanogenic leachate (ammoniacal-N from 600-1 000mg/1), and are compared with treatment performances achieved at other full-scale leachatetreatment plants. The paper shows 80D5 and ammoniacal-N removal efficiencies in excess of99%.Results also show the efficiency of polishing treatment in a reed bed, before discharge of finaleffluent to public sewer.

Landfill leachate treatment in Lithuania

Around 6 million tons of non- hazardous waste and some 1 30-1 70 000 tons of hazardous waste is generated in Lithuania every year. Most of non-hazardous wastes are organic (2. 1 millions tons) or domestic (1.7 million ton). Since no general waste incineration is used in Lithuania, the overall used method of waste disposal is landfilling. Most of the landfills are not designed or located properly. They pose a threat for both surface and groundwater in Lithuania. The Lithuanian government has made environmental protection a priority concern in recent years. Bilateral and multilateral donors have made funding available for environmental projects. Until 1998 no landfill in Lithuania had a landfill leachate treatment plant. Leachate was kept in the special storage places in the landfill, or collected and recirculated. In Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, part of the landfill leachate is taken to the city's waste water treatment plant and part of it is recirculated. Competition for the landfill leachate plant was announced and hopefully in the near future Vilnius will have a real project for the landfill leachate treatment. Recirculation was carried out in Kaunas Lapes landfill too till the leachate treatment plant was built. Leachate is collected and kept in the ditches in the other three biggest cities of Lithuania - Klaipeda, Siauliai and Panevezys. Klaipeda, as all other cities, is looking for a cost effective solution for the leachate treatment and Panevezys is thinking to clean the leachate in the city's waste water treatment plant. Biological leachate treatment is the idea of Siauliai municipality.

Dynamic Modeling of Biological Treatment of Leachates from Solid Wastes

Leachates from municipal solid wastes are liquids formed by organic and inorganic components suitable for biological treatment. In biological treatment plants, prediction of the output parameter value due to dynamic variation is essential. A dynamic model based on ASM1 has been applied for prediction of effluent COD value at real scale, using three different composition leachates. Tuning between dynamic variables and predicted parameter is tested for a correct proposal of the model. Dynamic model predicts correctly fluctuations in the output COD value and tempers dynamism caused by variation of temperature and biomass concentration in the case of high organic loaded leachates. Kinetic parameters Y H and K s are fixed to solve the model, and dynamic variables μ H and XBH are changing in time. μH,max is obtained in simulation (0.37–1.82 day−1) for minimum error between predicted values and experimental data. μH,max value is much lower compared with the value for domestic wastewater treatment due to lower biodegradability of leachate.

RECENT STATE-OF-THE-ART LEACHATE TREATMENT PLANTS IN EASTERN ENGLAND

The paper presents detailed design and performance data for two full-scale leachate treatment plants that have been designed and operated in Eastern England during recent years, in which reliable performance has been achieved for an extended period. The first plant is a modified Sequencing Batch Reactor system, treating relatively diluted leachate (COD about 500 mg/l, ammoniacal-N about 180 mg/l) from a closed landfill site, to provide complete nitrification of ammoniacal-N and degradation of all degradable COD, in a manner requiring minimal site attendance. This is made possible by means of reliable and robust operational software, which can run the plant in a completely automated manner, but nevertheless alerts the operator to any issues. The second state-of-the-art leachate treatment plant was designed and built at the Masons Landfill Site in Ipswich. It was designed to treat 160 m 3 /day of strong methanogenic leachate, often containing more than 2000 mg/l of ammoniacal-N. Discharge of treated leachate is to sewer, under a consent in which the main parameters that are limited are ammoniacal nitrogen, and COD. Treatment comprises full biological nitrification, with ultra-filtration membranes providing additional removal of COD, to achieve challenging consent limits. Taken together, the two case studies provide valuable, robust and real, full-scale data, for the degree of treatment which can realistically be delivered, by well-designed and operated, aerobic biological leachate treatment plants, where each plant has succeeded in treating leachates to well below the consented quality limits for discharge.

Biological leachate treatment using anaerobic/aerobic process: suspended growth-activated sludge versus aerobic granular sludge

Landfill leachate treatment was investigated using two anaerobic/aerobic sequencing batch reactors inoculated with suspended growth-activated sludge (ASBR) and aerobic granular sludge (GSBR). The total ammonium nitrogen (TAN) concentration in the GSBR influent was as high as 1200 mg/L with an average TAN removal efficiency of 99.7%. However, the ASBR treatment did not show a consistent performance in TAN removal. The TAN removal efficiency decreased with increasing ammonium concentration in the influent. Aerobic granular sludge was found to be more resistant to free ammonia (FA). In the GSBR, nitrification was partially inhibited at FA concentration from 48 to 57 mg/L, which was two times more than the FA concentration that inhibited nitrification in the ASBR. Low chemical oxygen demand removal efficiencies were obtained in both reactors, which was associated with the refractory organic content of the leachate used in this study. This resulted in poor phosphorous removal in both treatments. The results prove that aerobic granular sludge is a robust method as compared to suspended-activated sludge to treat leachate containing high levels of TAN and FA.

Removal of toxic metals during biological treatment of landfill leachates

Progressive implementation of the European Water Framework Directive has resulted in substantial changes in limits for discharges of heavy metals both to watercourses, and to sewer. The objective of this paper is to provide original, real, full-scale data obtained for removal of metals during aerobic biological leachate treatment, and also to report on studies carried out to look at further trace metal removal. Polishing technologies examined and investigated include; the incorporation of ultrafiltration (UF) membranes into biological treatment systems, the use of ion exchange, and of activated carbon polishing processes. Ultrafiltration was able to provide a 60 percent reduction in COD values in treated leachates, compared with COD values found in settled/clarified effluents. Removal rates for COD varied from 30.5 to 79.8 percent. Additionally, ultrafiltration of treated leachates significantly reduced both chromium and nickel concentrations of effluents by 61.6% and 34.3% respectively (median values). Despite mean reductions of chromium (9.7%) and nickel (13.7%) noted during the ion exchange trials, these results would not justify use of this technology for metals removal at full-scale. Further preliminary studies used pulverized activated carbon (PAC) polishing of UF effluents to demonstrate that significant (up to 80 per cent) removal of COD, TOC and heavy metals could readily be achieved by doses of up to 10g/l of suitable activated carbons. Additional evidence is provided that many trace metals are present not in ionic form, but as organic complexes; this is likely to make their removal to low levels more difficult and expensive.

Avaliação do tratamento biológico de lixiviado de aterro sanitário em escala real na Região Sul do Brasil

RESUMO Esta pesquisa avaliou o desempenho do sistema de tratamento biológico de lixiviado de um aterro sanitário em escala real formado por duas lagoas anaeróbias (LAs) operadas em série, um sistema de lodos ativados (SLOA) e uma lagoa facultativa (LF). O objetivo do estudo foi avaliar a eficiência desse sistema biológico por meio do monitoramento de variáveis físico-químicas e ensaios de toxicidade, já que existe carência de artigos científicos para estudos em escala real e para esse tipo de configuração no tratamento de lixiviados. As coletas foram realizadas com frequência quinzenal, seguidas de análises laboratoriais para caracterização dos diferentes lixiviados coletados ao longo do tratamento. A eficiência de remoção de matéria orgânica observada foi de 80 e 60% para carbono orgânico dissolvido e demanda química de oxigênio, respectivamente. O sistema apresentou ainda eficiência de 83 e 73% para remoção de nitrogênio amoniacal e fósforo, respectivamente. Observou-se uma diminuição média de 44% de toxicidade do lixiviado tratado, que apresentou características tóxicas para o organismo teste Daphnia magna . A configuração do sistema biológico demonstrou-se vantajosa na remoção de matéria orgânica e fração nitrogenada, contudo os resultados indicam a necessidade de tratamento complementar.

Biological Treatment of Leachate using Sequencing Batch Reactor

In Sri Lanka municipal solid waste is generally disposed in poorly managed open dumps which lack liner systems and leachate collection systems. Rain water percolates through the waste layers to produce leachate which drains in to ground water and finally to nearby water bodies, degrading the quality of water. Leachate thus has become a major environmental concern in municipal waste management and treatment of leachate is a major challenge for the existing and proposed landfill sites. The study was conducted to assess the feasibility of the usage of the Sequencing Batch Reactor in the treatment of the landfill leachate up to the proposed levels in the draft report of “Proposed Sri Lankan standard for landfill leachate to be disposed to the inland waters". Leachate collected from the open dumpsite at Meethotamulla, Western Province, Sri Lanka was used for leachate characterization. SBR was constructed with a 10-liter working volume operated in an 18 hour cycle mode and each cycle consists of 15hours of aerobic, 2h settle and 0.5 h of fill/decant stages. The Dissolved Oxygen level within the SBR was maintained at 2 mg/l through the aerobic stage. Infeed was diluted with water during the acclimatization period and a leachate to water ratio of 55:45 was maintained. The removal efficiencies for different parameters were; COD (90.5%), BOD (92.6%), TS (92.1%), Conductivity (83.9%), Alkalinity (97.4%), Hardness (82.2%), Mg (80.5%), Fe (94.2%), Zn (63.4%), Cr (31.69%), Pb (99.6%), Sulphate (98.9%), and Phosphorus (71.4%) respectively. In addition Ni and Cd were removed completely during a single SBR cycle. Thus the dilution of leachate in the dumpsites using municipal wastewater, groundwater or rainwater was identified as the most cost effective dilution methods. The effluent from the Sequencing batch reactor is proposed to be further treated using a constructed wetland before releasing to surface water. Key Words- Sequencing batch Reactor (SBR), Leachate, Conceptual design, landfill

Biological Treatment of Leachate Using Sequencing Batch Reactor

In Sri Lanka municipal solid waste is generally disposed in poorly managed open dumpswhich lack liner systems and leachate collection systems. Rain water percolates through thewaste layers to produce leachate which drains in to ground water and finally to nearby waterbodies, degrading the quality of water. Leachate thus has become a major environmentalconcern in municipal waste management and treatment of leachate is a major challenge forthe existing and proposed landfill sites.The study was conducted to assess the feasibility of the usage of the Sequencing BatchReactor in the treatment of the landfill leachate up to the proposed levels in the draft report of“Proposed Sri Lankan standard for landfill leachate to be disposed to the inland waters".Leachate collected from the open dumpsite at Meethotamulla, Western Province, Sri Lankawas used for leachate characterization.SBR was constructed with a 10-liter working volume operated in an 18 hour (h) cycle modeand each cycle consists of 15 h of aerobic, 2 h settle and 0.5 h of fill/decant stages. TheDissolved Oxygen level within the SBR was maintained at 2 mg/l through the aerobic stage.Infeed was diluted with water during the acclimatization period and a leachate to water ratioof 55:45 was maintained. The removal efficiencies for different parameters were; COD(90.5%), BOD (92.6%), TS (92.1%), Conductivity (83.9%), Alkalinity (97.4%), Hardness(82.2%), Mg (80.5%), Fe (94.2%), Zn (63.4%), Cr (31.69%), Pb (99.6%), Sulphate (98.9%),and Phosphorus (71.4%) respectively. In addition Ni and Cd were removed completelyduring a single SBR cycle.Thus the dilution of leachate in the dumpsites using municipal wastewater, groundwater orrainwater was identified as the most cost effective dilution methods. The effluent from theSequencing batch reactor is proposed to be further treated using a constructed wetland beforereleasing to surface water.

Raw and digested municipal waste compost leachate as potential fertilizer: comparison with a commercial fertilizer

Abstract The main pollution issue associated with the compost production in tunnels is the production of a liquid leachate characterized by high levels of salts and NH4–N as well as high organic load. However, compost leachate may also be considered as a source of nutrients and water and used as fertilizer. Chemical properties and germination index were determined for a raw leachate from a composting facility in order to check if it meets the adequate requirements for using as commercial fertilizer. An anaerobic process was used for biological treatment of leachate in order to reduce the organic load and to improve the fertilizing properties. Results showed for leachates low concentrations of heavy metals, absence of pathogens, suitable amounts of nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, C/N ratio under 20 and a high germination index. Anaerobic digestion did not improve the fertilizing properties of raw leachate but reduced odour and stabilized residue. This study proves that the raw leachate could be used as potential fertilizer because it meets the requirements usually established for commercial fertilizers. An economic estimation showed that the production cost of leachate as fertilizer is low and that an interesting profit margin could be obtained through the commercialization of the compost leachate as fertilizing liquid. Experimental comparison of raw and digested leachates with a commercial fertilizer shows that the former have better fertilizing qualities than the latter despite this is a marketed product.