Landfill Leachates Treatment by H2O2/UV, O3/H2O2, Modified Fenton, and Modified Photo-Fenton Methods

Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) such as H2O2/UV, O-3/H2O2, modified Fenton, and modified photo-Fenton processes have been investigated in terms of the treatment of landfill leachate with ratio of BOD5/COD in the range of 0.22 to 0.24. The modification of Fenton and photo-Fenton processes consisted in the inclusion of precipitation and separation of humic substances at pH 3. Due to the precipitation, the value of COD decreased by 39% and BOD5 by 7.1%. The modification of the processes allowed us to improve the efficiency and to decrease the doses of reagents necessary to continue the process. Modified photo-Fenton process proved to be the most effective (92.7% COD removal) of all processes investigated. Additionally, modified-Fenton process was much more effective than the other two processes when compared up to 120 min, while after longer times it gave the least satisfactory results. After 30 min of modified-Fenton process BOD5/COD ratio increased to 0.43. The parameter referred to as efficiency of oxidants was used to estimate the efficiency of all the processes-its value varied from 178 to 239%. Various substances including phthalates, hydrocarbons, silanes, and siloxanes were identified in raw and treated leachate.