The influence of preliminary aerobic treatment on the efficacy of waste stabilisation under leachate recirculation conditions

Abstract

This article presents the changes in the chemical composition of leachate and the concentrations and quantity of methane production in each individual decomposition phases, determined for untreated and after aerobic treatment of waste stabilised in anaerobic reactors with and without leachate recirculation. The research results demonstrate that leachate recirculation intensifies the decomposition of both aerobically treated and untreated waste. The methane production in the reactor with untreated, stabilised waste with recirculation was 28% higher; and in the reactor with aerobically treated waste, the methane production was 24% higher than in the reactors without recirculation. An important finding of the study is that aerobic treatment of waste prior to landfilling effectively reduces the quantity of pollutant emissions in leachate and biogas from waste and increases the availability for methane micro-organisms of organic substrates from difficult-to-decompose organic substances.

Keywords

• waste
• aerobic decomposition
• leachate recirculation
• mechanical–biological waste treatment
• methane