Natural attenuation, biostimulation and bioaugmentation of landfill leachate management

Landfills used for solid waste management will lead to leachate production. Proper leachate management is highly essential to be paid attention to protect the environment and living organisms' health and safety. In this study, the remedial strategies used for leachate management were natural attenuation, biostimulation and bioaugmentation. All treatment samples were treated via 42-days combined anaerobic-aerobic treatment and the treatment efficiency was studied by measuring the removal rate of COD and ammonia nitrogen. In this study, all remedial strategies showed different degrees of contaminants removal. Lowest contaminants removal rate was achieved via bioaugmentation of B. panacihumi strain ZB1, which were 39.4% of COD and 37.6% of ammonia nitrogen removed from the leachate sample. Higher contaminants removal rate was achieved via natural attenuation and biostimulation. Native microbial population was able to remove 41% of COD and 59% of ammonia nitrogen from the leachate sample. The removal efficiency could be further improved via biostimulation to trigger microbial growth and decontamination rate. Through biostimulation, 58% of COD and 51.8% of ammonia nitrogen were removed from the leachate sample. In conclusion, natural attenuation and biostimulation should be the main choice for leachate management to avoid any unexpected impacts due to introduction of exogenous species.