Characterization of water-extractable organic matter during the biostabilization of municipal solid waste

• Published in: Journal of hazardous materials Vol. 164; no. 2; pp. 1191 - 1197
• Main Authors: Shao, Zheng-Hao, He, Pin-Jing, Zhang, Dong-Qing, Shao, Li-Ming
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier B.V 30.05.2009; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Atmospheric pollution; Biostabilization; Carbon - analysis; Cities; Dissolved organic carbon (DOC); Exact sciences and technology; Excitation-emission matrix spectra (EEM); Fluorometry; Humic Substances - analysis; Hydrocarbons, Aromatic - analysis; Molecular Weight; Municipal solid waste (MSW); Pollution; Specific ultraviolet absorbance (SUVA); Urban and domestic wastes; Waste Disposal, Fluid - methods; Wastes; Water - chemistry; Municipal solid waste (MSW); Biostabilization; Dissolved organic carbon (DOC); Excitation-emission matrix spectra (EEM); Specific ultraviolet absorbance (SUVA); Correlation; Organic matter; Stability; Urban waste; Fluorescence; Pollutant emission; Dissolved organic carbon; Correlation analysis; Solid waste; Air pollution
• ISSN: 0304-3894; 1873-3336; 1873-3336
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2008.09.035

For the purpose of characterizing the evolution of water-extractable organic matter (WEOM) during the biostabilization of municipal solid waste (MSW) and investigating the correlation between biostability and WEOM characteristics, this study conducted 100-day investigation on biostabilization of MSW and applied various analytical approaches to characterize WEOM. The results showed that the respirometric activity of MSW was reduced by 93% to 10.7 mg kg −1, and the dissolved organic carbon concentration of WEOM kept steady at around 4.0 g kg −1 after day 44, when the MSW was considered to be stabilized. Moreover, the aromaticity of WEOM significantly increased and the high-molecular weight fraction became the main part of WEOM. Being highly related to the biostability of MSW, the excitation-emission matrix spectra indicated the stability by the fluorescence regional integration technique either by the presence of specific Ex/Em maxima (with wavelength pair of ∼288/455) or by the rapid increase of normalized excitation-emission area volumes with respect to the humic substances.