Mechanical biological treatment of organic fraction of MSW affected dissolved organic matter evolution in simulated landfill

Results obtained indicated that aerobic treatment of organic fraction of MSW permitted getting good biological stability so that, successive incubation under anaerobic condition in landfill allowed biological process to continue getting a strong reduction of soluble organic matter (DOM) that showed, also, an aromatic character. Incubation of untreated waste gave similar trend, but in this case DOM decreasing was only apparent as inhibition of biological process in landfill did not allow replacing degraded/leached DOM with new material coming from hydrolysis of fresh OM.