Autotrophic ammonia removal from landfill leachate using anaerobic membrane bioreactor

Abstract

Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor (AnMBR) is an innovative high cell density system having complete biomass retention, high reactor loading and low sludge production and suitable for developing slow growing autotrophic bacterial cultures such as ANAMMOX. The Anaerobic Ammonium Oxidation (ANAMMOX) process is an advanced biological nitrogen removal removes ammonia using nitrite as the electron acceptor without oxygen. The NH 4 + -N in the landfill leachate that is formed due to the release of nitrogen from municipal solid waste (MSW), when discharged untreated, into the surface water can result in eutrophication, aquatic toxicity and emissions of nitrous oxide (N 2 O) to atmosphere. Besides, NH 4 + -N accumulation in landfills poses long term pollution issue with significant interference during post closure thereby requiring its removal prior to ultimate disposal into inland surface waters. The main objective of this study was to investigate the feasibility and treatment efficiency of treating landfill leachate (to check) for removing NH