Treatment of mature landfill leachate by biofilters and Fenton oxidation

A series of processes by biofilter and Fenton oxidation to treat mature landfill leachate has been devised. At a hydraulic loading rate of 20 l m−3 d−1, a biofilter packed with aged refuse is found to remove 80% of chemical oxygen demand (COD), 89% of ammonia nitrogen and 96% of total phosphorus (TP). Particularly, TP levels dropped below 1 mg l−1. The optimal condition for Fenton oxidation was selected to be an initial pH of 5, a dosage of 0.01 and 0.02 mol l−1 of FeSO4 and H2O2, respectively, and a duration of 3 h, where COD removal efficiency reaches 58.6%, and BOD5/COD ratio is raised from 0.05 to 0.20. Subsequent treatment by a biofilter packed with slag reduces COD, ammonia nitrogen levels to less than 100, 25 mg l−1, respectively. A pilot scale experiment conducted in situ demonstrates that this series of processes exhibits a high efficiency in removing pollutants from mature landfill leachate and it is viable for application.