Bioenergy, ammonia and humic substances recovery from municipal solid waste leachate: A review and process integration

• Published in: Bioresource Technology Vol. 293; p. 122159
• Main Authors: Gu, Nannan, Liu, Jianyong, Ye, Jiongjiong, Chang, Ning, Li, Yu-You
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.12.2019; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Ammonia; Ammonia stripping; anaerobic digestion; Bioenergy; biogas; Bioreactors; calcium; fertilizers; financial economics; Humic Substances; leachates; membrane bioreactors; Methane; Methane production; municipal solid waste; Municipal solid waste leachate; nanofiltration; nitrogen; Refuse Disposal; Resource recovery; Sewage; sludge; Solid Waste; Resource recovery; A/O-MBR; SCWG; SND; HS; MFC; Methane production; Humic substances; EGSB; UF; OLR; SRT; COD; IC; Bioenergy; TDS; AD; Municipal solid waste leachate; Ammonia stripping; MEC; MSW; MWCO; AnMBR; NF; FA; UASB; RO
• ISSN: 0960-8524; 1873-2976; 1873-2976
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.122159

•EGSB + AnMBR is suggested to maximize CH4 production.•NH3 recovery by biogas recirculation with simultaneous Ca removal can be achieved.•Humic substances can be recovered by membrane from nanofiltration concentrate.•The integrated leachate treatment process is promising for resources recovery.•Environmental and economic benefits of the integrated process are analyzed. High strength of organic matters and nitrogen are the most concerns in treatment of municipal solid waste leachate, but can be removed and recovered as bioenergy and fertilizer. A few review papers on leachate treatment technologies and single resource recovery have been published. However, none practical leachate treatment process towards multiple resources recovery has been worked out. In this paper, technologies of bioenergy, ammonia and humic substances recovery from municipal solid waste leachate are summarized. A two-stage anaerobic digestion comprising an expanded granular sludge bed reactor and an anaerobic membrane bioreactor is suggested to maximize methane production as bioenergy. Ammonia recovery by biogas recirculation with simultaneous calcium removal is proposed for the first time. Humic substances are suggested to be recovered as fertilizer from nanofiltration concentrate by membrane technology. A novel integrated leachate treatment process is proposed for resources recovery from leachate, with more environmental and economic benefits.