Assessing the Fate of Dissolved Organic Compounds in Landfill Leachate and Wastewater Treatment Systems

Abstract

Landfill leachate and municipal wastewater are major sources of chemical pollutants that contaminate our drinking water sources. Evaluating the dissolved organic chemical composition in wastewater treatment plants is therefore essential to understand how the discharge impacts the environment, wildlife, and human health. In this study, we utilized a nontargeted analysis method coupling liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to analyze chemical features at different points along two landfill leachate treatment plants (LLTPs) and two municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in the Southeastern United States. Significant feature differences were observed for the WWTPs where activated sludge clarification was employed versus the LLTPs utilizing reverse osmosis. Specifically, even though both LLTPs had the largest number of features in their influent water, their effluent following reverse osmosis yielded a lower number of features than the WWTPs. Additionally, the clarification processes of each WWTP exhibited different efficiencies as chemical disinfection removed more features than UV disinfection. Feature identification was then made using the LC, MS, and MS/MS information. Analysis of the identified molecules showed that lipids were the most effectively removed from all plants, while alkaloid and organic nitrogen compounds were the most recalcitrant.

Unveiling the existence and ecological hazards of trace organic pollutants in wastewater treatment plant effluents across China

“…As a result of recent developments in analytical technology, a significant amount of work has been done on monitoring and assessing the risks of trace organic pollutants in the effluent of WWTPs [ 1 , 12 , 13 ]. Most previous studies focused on assessing the risk of one type of trace organic pollution at only one location [ [13] , [14] , [15] , [16] ] gathered information on the make-up of 473 trace organic pollutants found in surface water, the ocean, and groundwater globally, highlighting 53 pollutants that require immediate global control. Zhou et al [ 17 ] measured the concentrations and risks of 17 PFASs, 25 pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs), and 8 heavy metals in the inlet and outlet water of six WWTPs in China and found that the risk of PPCPs was 1–2 orders higher than that of PFASs, except for heavy metals.…”

Fingerprinting and Differentiation of Landfill Leachate and Domestic Sewage in Surface Water with Machine Learning Based Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy

“…Surface water is closely associated with drinking water supply, agricultural irrigation, and industrial production. − However, water quality can suffer detrimental impacts from various pollution sources. For instance, the discharge of untreated wastewater from industrial and municipal sources will cause river pollution.…”