Effectiveness of Anaerobic Technologies in the Treatment of Landfill Leachate

Improper Solid Waste Management leads to the generation of landfill leachate at the landfills. To reduce the negative impacts of highly toxic and recalcitrant leachate on the environment, several techniques have been used. A lot of research is conducted to find suitable methods for the treatment of landfill leachate such as biological processes, chemical oxidation processes, coagulation, flocculation, chemical precipitation, and membrane procedures. The biological process is still being used widely for the treatment of leachate. The current system of leachate treatment consists of various unit processes which require larger area, energy and cost. In addition, the current aerobic treatment is not able to treat entirely the pollutants which require further treatment of the leachate. Anaerobic wastewater treatment has gained considerable attention among researchers and sanitary engineers primarily due to its economic advantages over conventional aerobic methods. The major advantages of anaerobic wastewater treatment in comparison to aerobic methods are: (a) the lack of aeration, which decreases costs and energy requirements; and (b) simple maintenance and control, which eliminates the need for skilled operators and manufacturers. Several anaerobic processes have been used for leachate treatment such as up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor, anaerobic filter, hybrid bed reactor, anaerobic sequencing batch reactor and Anaerobic baffled reactor. The following chapter provides an insight to the solid waste management at the landfills, generation of leachate and details of some of the highly efficient anaerobic treatment systems that are used for the overall treatment of landfill leachate.