Performance evaluation of the bioreactor landfill in treatment and stabilisation of mechanically biologically treated municipal solid waste

• Published in: Waste management & research Vol. 35; no. 3; pp. 285 - 293
• Main Authors: Lakshmikanthan, P, Sivakumar Babu, GL
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.03.2017; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Air Pollutants - analysis; Biochemical oxygen demand; Biofuels - analysis; Bioreactors; Chemical oxygen demand; Developing countries; Hydrology; Landfill; Landfill gas; Landfills; LDCs; Leachates; Mechanical Phenomena; Municipal landfills; Municipal solid waste; Municipal waste management; Performance evaluation; Reactors; Refuse Disposal; Solid Waste - analysis; Solid waste management; Temperature; Temperature effects; Waste analysis; Waste disposal sites; Waste management; Waste Management - methods; Waste management industry; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; China; India; landfill gas; bioreactor landfill; leachate; Municipal solid waste
• ISSN: 0734-242X; 1096-3669
• DOI: 10.1177/0734242X16681461

The potential of bioreactor landfills to treat mechanically biologically treated municipal solid waste is analysed in this study. Developing countries like India and China have begun to investigate bioreactor landfills for municipal solid waste management. This article describes the impacts of leachate recirculation on waste stabilisation, landfill gas generation, leachate characteristics and long-term waste settlement. A small-scale and large-scale anaerobic cell were filled with mechanically biologically treated municipal solid waste collected from a landfill site at the outskirts of Bangalore, India. Leachate collected from the same landfill site was recirculated at the rate of 2–5 times a month on a regular basis for 370 days. The total quantity of gas generated was around 416 L in the large-scale reactor and 21 L in the small-scale reactor, respectively. Differential settlements ranging from 20%–26% were observed at two different locations in the large reactor, whereas 30% of settlement was observed in the small reactor. The biological oxygen demand/chemical oxygen demand (COD) ratio indicated that the waste in the large reactor was stabilised at the end of 1 year. The performance of the bioreactor with respect to the reactor size, temperature, landfill gas and leachate quality was analysed and it was found that the bioreactor landfill is efficient in the treatment and stabilising of mechanically biologically treated municipal solid waste.