The application of an anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR) with four compartments was investigated for the simultaneous removal of carbon and nitrogen from leachate. The nitrified effluent was recycled to compartment 3 of the ABR, thereby avoiding the adverse influence of nitrogen oxides on anaerobic methanogenesis in compartment 1. Nitrified effluent recirculation not only enhanced chemical oxygen demand removal (>95.6%) but also improved the total nitrogen removal efficiency from 12.7% to 67.4% with increasing recirculation ratio from 0.25 to 2. The challenge of insufficient carbon sources for heterotrophic denitrification in compartment 3 with a high recirculation ratio could be overcome by step feeding of leachate. Moreover, various reduced sulfurs (e.g., sulfide, elemental sulfur, and organic sulfur) were involved in nitrate reduction via sulfur-based autotrophic denitrification. The addition of sulfide to compartment 3 further confirmed nitrate reduction using reduced sulfur as an electron donor. The interaction of organic carbon, reduced sulfur, and nitrate in leachate treatment needs further study.
Keywords: Anaerobic–aerobic system; Leachate; Recirculation ratio; Simultaneous denitrification and methanogenesis; Sulfur-based autotrophic denitrification.
Copyright © 2016 The Society for Biotechnology, Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.