Treatment of landfill waste, leachate and landfill gas: A review

This review aims at the treatment of the entire landfill, including the waste mass and the harmful emissions: leachate and landfill gas. Different landfill treatments (aerobic, anaerobic and semi-aerobic bioreactor landfills, dry-tomb landfills), leachate treatments (anaerobic and aerobic treatments, anammox, adsorption, chemical oxidation, coagulation/flocculation and membrane processes) and landfill gas treatments (flaring, adsorption, absorption, permeation and cryogenic treatments) are reviewed. Available information and the gaps present in current knowledge is summarized. The most significant areas to expand are landfill waste treatments, which in recent years has begun to grow but there is an opportunity for much more. Another area to explore is the treatment of landfill gas, a very large field to which not much effort has been put forth. This review is to compare different treatment methods and give direction to future research.