Comparison of Aerobic and Anaerobic Biotreatment of Municipal Solid Waste

Abstract

To increase the operating lifetime of landfills and to lower leachate treatment costs, an increasing number of municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills are being managed as either aerobic or anaerobic bioreactors. Landfill gas composition, respiration rates, and subsidence were measured for 400 days in 200-L tanks filled with fresh waste materials to compare the relative effectiveness of the two treatments. Tanks were prepared to provide the following conditions: (1) air injection and leachate recirculation (aerobic), (2) leachate recirculation (anaerobic), and (3) no treatment (anaerobic). Respiration tests on the aerobic wet tank showed a steady decrease in oxygen consumption rates from 1.3 mol/day at 20 days to 0.1 mol/day at 400 days. Aerobic wet tanks produced, on average, 6 mol of carbon dioxide (CO₂)/kg of MSW as compared with anaerobic wet tanks, which produced 2.2 mol methane/kg of MSW and 2.0 mol CO₂/kg methane. Over the test period, the aerobic tanks settled on average 35%, anaerobic tanks settled 21.7%, and the no-treatment tank settled 7.5%, equivalent to overall mass loss in the corresponding reactors. Aerobic tanks reduced stabilization time and produced negligible odor compared with anaerobic tanks, possibly because of the 2 orders of magnitude lower leachate ammonia levels in the aerobic tank. Both treatment regimes provide the opportunity for disposal and remediation of liquid waste.