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16Groundwater nitrate contamination in agricultural areas is a common problem in many parts of 17 the world. The important agricultural district Shimabara in Nagasaki, Japan, is also

Landfill leachate is characterised by high chemical and biological oxygen demand and generally consists of undesirable substances such as organic and inorganic contaminants. Landfill leachate may differ depending on the content and age of landfill contents, the degradation procedure, climate and hydrological conditions. We aimed to explain the characteristics of landfill leachate and define the practicality of using different techniques for treating landfill leachate. Different treatments comprising biological methods (e.g. bioreactors, bioremediation and phytoremediation) and physicochemical approaches (e.g. advanced oxidation processes, adsorption, coagulation/flocculation and membrane filtration) were investigated in this study. Membrane bioreactors and integrated biological techniques, including integrated anaerobic ammonium oxidation and nitrification/denitrification processes, have demonstrated high performance in ammonia and nitrogen elimination, with a removal effectiveness of more than 90%. Moreover, improved elimination efficiency for suspended solids and turbidity has been achieved by coagulation/flocculation techniques. In addition, improved elimination for metals can be attained by combining different treatment techniques, with a removal effectiveness of 40–100%. Furthermore, combined treatment techniques for treating landfill leachate, owing to its high chemical oxygen demand and concentrations of ammonia and low biodegradability, have been reported with good performance. However, more study is necessary to enhance treatment methods to achieve maximum removal efficiency.

An experimental study of the behavior of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in leachate treatment processes (aeration, coagulation and sedimentation, activated carbon adsorption, and advanced oxidation) was conducted and removal efficiencies were evaluated. Among target EDCs, concentrations of BPA (1800 times), DBP (10 times), BBP (40 times), and DEHP (30 times) in leachate are more than ten times higher than those in surface water. BPA, DBP, and BBP can be treated by aeration and DEHP, by advanced oxidation processes. BPA could not be effectively removed by coagulation and sedimentation because most of BPA partitioned in the supernatant. DEHP could hardly be treated by aeration. The removal ratios of DEHP were approximately 50 to 70% if the generated sediment was removed completely. The removal ratios of DEHP in leachate of 100 m 3 /d with 100 kg of activated carbon were 50 to 70%, assuming a complete mixing model. The concentration of DEHP was decreased to below one tenth in 120 min by advanced oxidation processes.

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