ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Simulation of aerobic landfill in laboratory scale lysimeters — effect of aeration rate

Radoslaw Slezak, Liliana Krzystek, and Stanisław Ledakowicz

Department of Bioprocess Engineering, Technical University of Lodz, Faculty of Process and Environmental Engineering, Wolczanska 213, 90-924 Lodz, Poland

E-mail: slezakr@gmail.com

Received: 8 June 2009  Revised: 2 November 2009  Accepted: 10 November 2009

Abstract: Aeration of municipal landfills contributes to the acceleration of organic matter degradation and to the decrease of pollutant emission into air, water, and soil. Biodegradation of organic matter present in municipal waste, deposited in a landfill, by microorganisms under anaerobic conditions is a slow process. The aim of the study was to carry out simulations of an aerobic landfill in lysimeters, to determine the influence of aeration rate on the degradation of organic matter present in landfills, and to formulate a mathematical model defining the changes of carbon content in leachate and in gas produced. In this work, simulation of aerobic landfill leachate degradation was carried out in laboratory scale lysimeters with the working volume of 15 L. The changes of BOD5, COD, and ammonium nitrogen concentration during aeration were similar for all aeration rates. During aeration, the BOD5 index decreased by 99.9 %, COD decreased by 95.1 %, and ammonium nitrogen concentration by 93 %. The proposed kinetic model defines the processes of organic carbon content changes in simulated leachate and the quantity of carbon dioxide for aerobic landfill simulation quite well.

Keywords: aeration - lysimeter - leachate - waste - aerobic landfill

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.2478/s11696-009-0113-8

Chemical Papers 64 (2) 223–229 (2010)