Natural attenuation and characterization of contaminants composition in landfill leachate under different disposing ages

Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) composition in landfill leachate would vary as the disposal time extended. Leachates with different ages were collected from Laogang Refuse Landfill of Shanghai, the largest landfill in China with a placement scale of 7600 t refuse per day. To characterize COD composition in leachate, samples were size-fractioned into suspended fractions (> 0.45 μm), colloid fraction (0.45 μm < fraction < 1 K Da MW) and dissolved fractions (< 1 KDa MW) based on the molecular weight distribution. The fractions < 0.45 μm (including colloid fraction and dissolved fractions) in leachate were further divided into 6 fractions, i.e. hydrophobic bases (Ho-base), hydrophobic acids (Ho-acid), hydrophobic neutral (Ho-neutral), hydrophilic bases (Hi-base), hydrophilic acids (Hi-acid) and hydrophilic neutral (Hi-neutral). It was found that the ratio of TOC/TC in leachate decreased over time, indicating that the percentage of organic matters in leachate decreased as the disposal time extended. It was also observed that the hydrophobic fraction accounted to about 50% of the total matters presented in the fraction < 0.45 μm of all leachate samples. The main components in < 0.45  μm fraction were the Ho-acid, Hi-acid and Hi-base fractions. The percentage of Ho-acid in leachate decreased from 60.8% (2 a) to 43.2% (12 a). In addition, leachate with different ages was categorized into 3 phases according to the results of Principle component analysis (PCA). TOC/COD ranges of leachate in periods I, II and III were 40–54.6%, 16.9–41.3% and 10–38.9%, respectively, indicating that the COD contribution of non-carbon reduction substances increased over time in leachate. Hence, the corresponding landfill leachate treatment process should be modified according to the leachate characterization. The results obtained in this study might provide the important information for modeling, design, and operation of landfill leachate treatment systems.