Biological nitrogen removal from municipal landfill leachate: low-cost nitrification in biofilters and laboratory scale in-situ denitrification

The slow leaching of nitrogen from solid waste in landfills, resulting in high concentrations of ammonia in the landfill leachate, may last for several decades. The removal of nitrogen from leachate is desirable as nitrogen can trigger eutrophication in lakes and rivers. In the present study. a low-cost nitrification-denitrification process was developed to reduce nitrogen load especially in leachates from small landfills. Nitrification was studied in laboratory and on-site pilot aerobic biofilters with waste materials as filter media (crushed brick in upflow,, filters and bulking agent of compost in a downflow filter) while denitrification was studied in a laboratory anoxic/anaerobic column filled with landfill waste. In the laboratory nitrification filters, start-up of nitrification took less than 3 weeks and over 90% nitrification of leachate (NH4-N between 60 and 170mg N1(-1), COD between 230 and 1300 mg l(-1)) was obtained with loading rates between 100 and 130 mgNH(4)-N l(-1) d at 25degreesC. In an on-site pilot study a level of nitrification of leachate (NH4-N between 160 and 270 mg Nl(-1), COD between 1300 and 1600 mgl(-1)) above 90% was achieved in a crushed brick biofilter with a loading rate of 50 mg NH4-Nl(-1) d even at temperatures as low as 5-10degreesC. Ammonium concentrations in all biofilter effluents were usually below the detection limit. In the denitrification column, denitrification started within 2 weeks and total oxidised nitrogen in nitrified leachate (TON between 50 and 150 trig Nl(-1)) usually declined below the detection limit at 25 C, whereas some ammonium, probably originating from the landfill waste used in the column, was detected in the effluent. No adverse effect was observed on the methanation of waste in the denitrification column with a loading rate of 3.8 g TON-N/t-TSwaste d. In conclusion, nitrification in a low-cost biofilter followed by denitrification in a landfill body appears applicable for the removal of nitrogen in landfill leachate in colder climates. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.