Abstract
Landfill leachates are often discharged through sewers or by trucks to publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) after on-site biological treatment. This discharge of landfill leachate is widely accepted because of its cost-effectiveness and reliability, but potential impacts of this practice include additional nutrient loading and interference with ultraviolet (UV) disinfection during subsequent biological treatment. Leachate was fractionated into humic acid (HA), fulvic acid (FA), and hydrophilic (Hpi) fractions based on chemical composition and solubility to determine the hydrophobicity distribution. The analysis showed that the specific absorbance () of the humic substances (HA and FA) was significantly higher than the Hpi fraction. The UV quenching materials were found to be resistant to biological treatment for the majority of leachates studied. Removal of humic substances was associated with decreased UV quenching and the aromatic content of landfill leachates after biological treatment. The size distribution of the hydrophilic fraction suggests that the majority of organic nitrogen in landfill leachate is associated with the low-molecular-weight () hydrophilic fraction.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the funding support of Waste Management Inc., and the technical support of Mr. Gary R. Hater and Mr. Aaron Maurer of Waste Management, Inc.
References
Christensen, J. B., Jensen, D. L., Gron, C., Filip, Z., and Christensen, T. H. (1998). “Characterization of the dissolved organic carbon in landfill leachate-polluted groundwater.” Water Res., 32(1), 125–135.
International Humic Substances Society. (2013). “What are humic substances?” 〈http://www.humicsubstances.org/whatarehs.html〉.
Krasner, S. W., Westerhoff, P., Chen, B., Rittmann, B. E., Nam, S.-N., and Amy, G. (2009). “Impact of wastewater treatment processes on organic carbon, organic nitrogen, and DBP precursors in effluent organic matter.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 43(8), 2911–2918.
Kurniawan, T. A., and Lo, W.-H. (2009). “Removal of refractory compounds from stabilized landfill leachate using an integrated H2O2 oxidation and granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption treatment.” Water Res., 43(16), 4079–4091.
Leenheer, J. A. (1981). “Comprehensive approach to preparative isolation and fractionation of dissolved organic carbon from natural waters and wastewaters.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 15(5), 578–587.
Leenheer, J. A. (2007). “Progression from model structures to molecular structures of natural organic matter components.” Ann. Environ. Sci., 1, 57–68.
Pehlivanoglu, E., and Sedlak, D. L. (2004). “Bioavailability of wastewater-derived organic nitrogen to the alga Selenastrum Capricornutum.” Water Res., 38(14), 3189–3196.
Pehlivanoglu-Mantas, E., and Sedlak, D. L. (2008). “Measurement of dissolved organic nitrogen forms in wastewater effluents: Concentrations, size distribution and NDMA formation potential.” Water Res., 42(14), 3890–3898.
Renou, S., Givaudan, J. G., Poulain, S., Dirassouyan, F., and Moulin, P. (2008). “Landfill leachate treatment: Review and opportunity.” J. Hazard. Mater., 150(3), 468–493.
Robinson, A. H. (2005). “Landfill leachate treatment.” Membr. Technol., 2005(6), 6–12.
Thurman, E. M., and Malcolm, R. L. (1981). “Preparative isolation of aquatic humic substances.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 15(4), 463–466.
U.S. EPA (2014). “Municipal solid waste generation, recycling, and disposal in the United States: Facts and figures for 2012.”, Washington, DC.
Weishaar, J. L., Aiken, G. R., Bergamaschi, B. A., Fram, M. S., Fujii, R., and Mopper, K. (2003). “Evaluation of specific ultraviolet absorbance as an indicator of the chemical composition and reactivity of dissolved organic carbon.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 37(20), 4702–4708.
Zhao, R., Novak, J. T., and Goldsmith, C. D. (2012). “Evaluation of on-site biological treatment for landfill leachates and its impact: A size distribution study.” Water Res., 46(12), 3837–3848.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 141 • Issue 4 • April 2015
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 9, 2014
Accepted: Aug 20, 2014
Published online: Sep 26, 2014
Discussion open until: Feb 26, 2015
Published in print: Apr 1, 2015
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Acids
- Benefit cost ratios
- Biological processes
- Business management
- Chemical compounds
- Chemical processes
- Chemicals
- Chemistry
- Environmental engineering
- Financial management
- Highway transportation
- Infrastructure
- Landfills
- Leachates
- Lifeline systems
- Practice and Profession
- Radiation
- Sewers
- Transportation engineering
- Trucks
- Ultraviolet radiation
- Vehicles
- Waste management
- Waste sites
- Waste treatment
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.