Co-treatment of old landfill leachate and municipal wastewater in sequencing batch reactor (SBR): effect of landfill leachate concentration

Sequencing batch reactor (SBR) was assessed for direct co-treatment of old landfill leachate and municipal wastewater for chemical oxygen demand (COD), nutrients and turbidity removal. Nitrogen removal was achieved by sequential nitrification and denitrification under post-anoxic conditions. Initially, SBR operating conditions were optimized by varying hydraulic retention time (HRT) at 20% (v/v) landfill leachate concentration, and results showed that 6 d HRT was suitable for co-treatment. SBR performance was assessed in terms of COD, ammonia, nitrate, phosphate, and turbidity removal efficiency. pH, mixed liquor suspended solids, mixed liquor volatile suspended solids (MLVSS), and sludge volume index were monitored to evaluate stability of SBR. MLVSS indicated that biomass was able to grow even at higher concentrations of old landfill leachate. Ammonia and nitrate removal efficiency was more than 93% and 83%, respectively, whereas COD reduction was in the range of 60–70%. Phosphate and turbidity removal efficiency was 80% and 83%, respectively. Microbial growth kinetic parameters indicated that there was no inhibition of biomass growth up to 20% landfill leachate. The results highlighted that SBR can be used as an initial step for direct co-treatment of landfill leachate and municipal wastewater.