Municipal landfill leachate treatment by SBBGR technology

The paper reports the results of a laboratory-scale investigation aimed at evaluating the performance of a periodic biofilter with granular biomass (SBBGR) for treating leachate coming from a mature municipal landfill. The results show that the SBBGR was able to remove roughly 80% of COD in leachate. The remaining 20% of COD were, therefore, presumably owing to the presence in the leachate of recalcitrant compounds. Ammonia removal efficiency was low because of the presence of high salinity and inhibitory compounds in the investigated leachate. The process was characterised by very low sludge production (lower than 0.02 kg TSS/kg CODremoved).