Integrating landfill bioreactors, partial nitritation and anammox process for methane recovery and nitrogen removal from leachate

A new process consisting of a landfill bioreactor, partial-nitritation (PN) and the anammox process has been developed for landfill leachate treatment. In this study, the landfill bioreactor exhibited excellent performance in methane-rich biogas recovery, with a specific biogas yield of 0.47 L gas g(−1) COD and methane percentages of 53–76%. PN was achieved in the aerobic reactor by high free ammonia (101 ± 83 mg NH(3) L(−1)) inhibition for nitrite-oxidizing bacteria, and the desired PN effluent composition (effluent nitrite: ammonium ratio of 1.1 ± 0.3) was controlled by adjusting the alkalinity concentration per unit of ammonium oxidized to approximately 14.3 mg CaCO(3) mg(−1) N in the influent. The startup of anammox process was successfully achieved with a membrane bioreactor in 160 d, and a maximum nitrogen removal rate of 216 mg N L(−1) d(−1) was attained for real landfill leachate treatment. The quantitative polymerase chain reaction results confirmed that the cell-specific anammox activity was approximately 68–95 fmol N cell(−1) d(−1), which finally led to the stable operation of the system.