Biochemical Engineering Journal 66 (2012) 4651

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Biochemical Engineering Journal

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/bej

Biological treatment of leachate from solid wastes: Kinetic study and simulation
Muliye Tamrat, Carlos Costa , M. Carmen Mrquez
Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Chemical Sciences, University of Salamanca, Plaza de los Cados 1-5, 37008 Salamanca, Spain

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
Leachate from municipal solid wastes processed in the treatment plant in Salamanca, Spain has been stabilized by aerobic biological treatment. High organic load (42,310 mg O2 /L COD) and high concentration of K (4376 mg/L) and N (3320 mg/L) make this leachate suitable for agricultural applications, but before agricultural use, biological treatment has to be applied for stabilization and odour reduction. Biodegradability has been studied in aerobic and anaerobic media, showing aerobic (64%) to be more effective than anaerobic (40%) in COD removal. Kinetic study of aerobicanaerobic biodegradation is presented and a dynamic model for efuent COD prediction in aerobic biological treatment is developed. 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Article history: Received 9 March 2012 Received in revised form 17 April 2012 Accepted 24 April 2012 Available online 2 May 2012 Keywords: Waste treatment Biodegradation Aerobic processes Dynamic simulation Leachate Solid wastes

1. Introduction The amount of leachate produced from municipal solid wastes in Spain is estimated to be about 700,000 m3 /year [1] which represents 5 m3 /d for 100,000 habitants. Organic load in leachate is reported to be diverse [24], normally in the range 100065,000 mg O2 /L COD. Nitrogen is present, specially in form of ammonia, in concentrations ranging 5003000 mg/L [3,5,6] and other elements detected in important concentration are K, Na, Ca and Mg. Heavy metals can be present in leachate, depending on industrial contribution to solid wastes. Attending organic load and nutrients, leachate is a potential fertilizer for agriculture, but for transporting and disposal, stabilization and odour reduction is needed. Biological treatment seems to be useful for this purpose [5,7] and aerobic and anaerobic treatment can be assayed. Kinetic study of biodegradation, previous to biological treatment, is needed for quantifying degradation in both environments (aerobic and anaerobic) and for selecting best treatment by two ways: degradation rate, the measurement of biological stabilization process and nal COD value which is related to the intensity of the biological treatment. In biological treatment, dynamic models describe daily uctuations of efuent COD values, due to variations in process parameters: temperature, inuent COD, biomass concentration, etc. [8,9]. These models can predict what will be the efuent

parameter value assuming the modication in the process parameters. Application of dynamic models in biological treatment of leachate is not reported before and can help in performing of biological treatment plants. Knowledge about dynamic parameters values is needed if biological treatment will be applied to leachate from municipal solid wastes. In present work, leachate from treatment centre of municipal solid wastes in Salamanca, Spain, is characterized and stabilized by biological treatment, reducing organic load to get a stable liquid without odour. Comparative kinetic study of aerobic and anaerobic degradation is performed, in order to select best procedure for a later agricultural disposal. Dynamic modelling of biological treatment is developed, using a dynamic model based on ASMs, for predicting real values of efuent organic load after treatment.

2. Materials and methods 2.1. Analytical methods COD, pH, ammonia nitrogen, TOC, TN and solids were measured three times a week and the samples were collected in plastic tubes and analysed in triplicate following standard methods [10]. In the case of ion determination (nitrate and nitrite: ionic chromatograph Dionex ICS 2000, ISO 10304-1) and TOC/TN (HACH-LANGE, IL 550 TOC), samples were ltered by 0.45 m pore size lters. During the study, concentration of metals and nutrients in the samples were measured by atomic absorption (ICP OES, ULTIMA2-JOBIN YVON).

Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 923 294479; fax: +34 923 294574. E-mail address: ccosta@usal.es (C. Costa). 1369-703X/$ see front matter 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bej.2012.04.012

M. Tamrat et al. / Biochemical Engineering Journal 66 (2012) 4651

47

Nomenclature bA bH fp iXB iXP k kh KOH Ks KX Q ri r( ) S S SALK Sin SI SND SNH SNO SO SS SS,in t T V XBA XBH XBH,in XI XND XP XS XS,in YA YH decay coefcient for autotrophic biomass (d1 ) decay coefcient for heterotrophic biomass (d1 ) fraction of biomass leading to particulate products nitrogen fraction in biomass nitrogen fraction in products from biomass kinetic coefcient (d1 ) hydrolysis rate constant (d1 ) oxygen half-saturation coefcient for heterotrophic biomass (mg/L) half-saturation coefcient for readily biodegradable substrate (mg/L) half-saturation coefcient for particulate biodegradable substrate (mg/L) inuent ow rate (L/d) substrate utilization rate (mg/(L d)) conversion vector of the variable (mg/(L d)) stoichiometric matrix substrate concentration (mg/L) alkalinity (mol/L) inuent substrate concentration (mg/L) soluble inert organic matter (mg/L) soluble biodegradable organic nitrogen (mg/L) ammonia nitrogen (mg/L) nitrate and nitrite nitrogen (mg/L) dissolved oxygen (mg/L) readily biodegradable substrate (mg/L) inuent readily biodegradable substrate (mg/L) time (d) temperature ( C) reactor volume (L) active autotrophic biomass (mg/L) active heterotrophic biomass (mg/L) inuent active heterotrophic biomass (mg/L) particulate inert organic matter (mg/L) particulate biodegradable organic nitrogen (mg/L) particulate products arising from biomass decay (mg/L) slowly biodegradable substrate (mg/L) inuent slowly biodegradable substrate (mg/L) growth yield of autotrophic biomass growth yield of heterotrophic biomass
Air Influent

Oxygen, pH, redox ports

Register

Effluent

Aerobic reactor 4L
Feed deposit Feed pump Recycle pump

Settler 1.75 L

Effluent deposit

Fig. 1. Operation laboratory plant. Samples in reactor and waste biomass were collected through the surface. Inuent and efuent samples were collected from deposits.

2.3. Treatment plant Operation laboratory plant is an activated sludge system described in Fig. 1 with 4 L reactor volume and 1.75 L settler volume. Leachate is stored in feed deposit and pumped to reactor and biomass is separated in settler. Part of settled biomass is recycled to reactor by another pump. Air is supplied to aerobic reactor by a diffuser, assuring an adequate oxygen concentration (higher than 3 mg/L). Hydraulic residence time (HRT) was xed in 10 d in accordance with previous experiments and literature related to high organic loaded leachates [2,5]. Temperature was xed in 24 4 C and treatment plant was operating during 108 d. 2.4. Kinetics of biodegradability Kinetic model for substrate degradation in liquid media can be obtained by applying a substrate mass balance to a stirred tank [11]. For a batch reactor there is not incoming neither efuent ow: input and output terms are null and the integrated rate equation, for a rst order kinetics, takes the form [12]: ln Sin = kt S (1)

Greek symbols vector of reactor and efuent concentration (mg/L) vector of inuent concentration (mg/L) in specic growth rate for heterotrophic biomass (d1 ) H maximum specic growth rate for heterotrophic H,max biomass (d1 ) vector of reaction kinetics (mg/(L d)) ( ) process rate (mg/(L d)) j hydraulic residence time, HRT (d) stoichiometric coefcient ij

Therefore, the representation ln(Sin /S) versus t should be linear for a rst order kinetics and the slope will be the kinetic coefcient (k). 2.5. Dynamic model Dynamic variables affect activated sludge systems inuencing the concentration values of parameters in the system output. Fluctuation of temperature, ow and organic load makes the steady-state models ineffective in explaining normal disturbances in biological treatment. Under this situation, dynamic models are clearly in advantage [13]. The rst dynamic activated sludge model (ASM) was formulated by the Task Group on Mathematical Modelling of the IWA (International Water Association): ASM1 for organic matter oxidation, nitrication and denitrication [8]. Several dynamic models for activated sludge process have been developed for improving and completing ASM1 [9,14]. The original ASM1 includes 8 fundamental processes and substrate is divided in 13 components, resulting in 13 mass balance equations for eight variables and 19 kinetic parameters.

2.2. Biodegradability tests Biodegradability assays were performed in 500 mL erlenmeyers under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, introducing 200 mL volume of leachate in both cases and using magnetic stirring. Temperature in aerobic experiment was 22 3 C (lab temperature) and in anaerobic experiment was xed in 35 2 C. In anaerobic tests nitrogen was used as atmosphere. Biodegradability tests were monitored two times a week during 69 d.

48

M. Tamrat et al. / Biochemical Engineering Journal 66 (2012) 4651 Table 1 Composition of leachate attending organic load, nutrients and ions. TS: total solids, TVS: total volatile solids, TSS: total suspended solids, VSS: volatile suspended solids. Kjeldahl nitrogen represents ammonia and organic nitrogen and TN is dissolved total nitrogen. Parameter COD (mg O2 /L) TS (mg/L) TVS (mg/L) TSS (mg/L) VSS (mg/L) pH Alcalinity (mg CaCO3 /L) Conductivity (S/cm) NH4 + (mg/L) TOC (mg/L) TN (mg/L) Kjeldahl nitrogen (mg/L) Cl (mg/L) NO2 (mg/L) NO3 (mg/L) SO4 2 (mg/L) Value 42,310 38,787 14,753 3750 2120 7.75 8291 36.43 2814 12,320 3320 3190 5021 150 117 73 Standard deviation 354 153 110 193 57 0.01 5 0.01 55 86 32 100 215 1 1 1

ASM 1 consists of a mass balance to the biological reactor in which substrate utilization rate (ri ) is a conversion rate for the component i by the process j: ri =
j ij

(2)

In matrix notation the equation is as follows: r( ) = S ( ) (3)

where r( ) is the conversion vector of the variable , S the stoichiometric matrix and ( ) is the vector of reaction kinetics for the 8 fundamental processes. The system formed by the reactor and recycle conducts can be considered as a complete mix reactor and the mass balance is: V d =Q dt
in

Q + Vr( ) ) )

(4) (5) (6)

Q d = r( ) + ( V dt 1 d = r( ) + ( dt

in

in

Heterotrophic biomass dXBH = dt

H

If the model is applied only for carbon degradation and nutrients removal is not considered, the model can be reduced to three components and mass balance equations are [13]: Soluble substrate (Ss ): dSs H = YH dt + kh Ss Ks + Ss XS KX XBH + XS SO KOH + SO

Ss Ks + Ss

XBH bH XBH +

(XBH,in XBH )

(12)

XBH XBH + 1 (Ss,in Ss ) (7)

Mass balance equations for the three components can be considered independent when coupled variables are considered dynamic variables introduced in the model as analysed parameters. This permits the solution of the differential equations separately, in this case Eq. (10) for soluble substrate: dSs H = YH dt Ss Ks + Ss XBH + 1 (Ss,in Ss )

SO KOH + SO

Particulate substrate (Xs ): dXs = (1 fp )bH XBH + (1 fp )bA XBA dt kh Xs KX XBH + Xs SO KOH + SO XBH + 1 (Xs,in Xs ) (8)

In this differential equation, dynamic variables affecting substrate concentration are biomass concentration (XBH ) and temperature, which is affecting H = H,max 1.072(T20) . This equation is solved using MATLAB 6.5 [15] which applies ODE45 solver, most adequate for this type of equation. Solution predicts Ss value after biological treatment and kinetic parameters (YH and Ks ) must be adjusted comparing experimental and predicted values of the output parameter. 3. Results and discussion

Heterotrophic biomass (XBH ): dXBH = dt +

H

Ss Ks + Ss

SO KOH + SO

XBH bH XBH 3.1. Leachate composition (9) Composition of leachate is described in Tables 1 and 2. Table 1 shows organic load, solids, nutrients and ions and Table 2 reects concentration of metals. Most relevant in this liquid composition is high organic load (42,310 mg O2 /L COD), high nitrogen concentration (3320 mg/L TN, which is mainly ammonia) and high content in chloride, potassium, sodium and calcium. These values are higher compared to average values described for leachates from municipal solid wastes [2,3,1618], due to contribution of composting leachate in this treatment plant. Other authors show similar values of high organic load [5,19]. This leachate is a liquid rich in organic matter and ions, and specially nutrients, feasible for biological treatment in order to reduce organic content and stabilize fermentation activity. 3.2. Biodegradability of leachate Biodegradability of leachate is shown in Fig. 2 for aerobic and anaerobic conditions. In view of gure, aerobic environment is more adequate for biological degradation of leachate: nal value

(XBH,in XBH )

Oxygen concentration is not limiting because is always higher than 3 mg/L and rates are not dependent on oxygen (SO is much higher than KOH ), so oxygen concentration is not present in mass balance equations. Besides, inuent suspended solids concentration in leachate is low and hydrolysis of particulate substrate can be eliminated in substrate mass balance equations (second term in equation member on the right in Eq. (7) and third term in Eq. (8)). In this situation, mass balance equations for the three components are: Soluble substrate: dSs H = YH dt Ss Ks + Ss XBH + 1 (Ss,in Ss ) (10)

Particulate substrate 1 dXs = (1 fp )bH XBH + (1 fp )bA XBA + (Xs,in Xs ) dt (11)

M. Tamrat et al. / Biochemical Engineering Journal 66 (2012) 4651 Table 2 Concentration of metals in leachate (average relative standard deviation: 2%). Hg, Cd and Cu were not detected. Chemical element Hg ( g/L) Al (mg/L) Sb (mg/L) As (mg/L) Ba (mg/L) Ca (mg/L) Mg (mg/L) B (mg/L) Cd (mg/L) Cu (mg/L) Cr (mg/L) Sn (mg/L) Fe (mg/L) K (mg/L) Na (mg/L) Mn (mg/L) Ni (mg/L) Zn (mg/L) Pb (mg/L) P (mg/L) Value <0.8 11.3 0.3 0.19 0.5 >1000 424 4.8 <0.01 <0.1 1.9 0.9 22.8 4376 4163 4.0 0.79 2.2 1.2 46.4

49

1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0

Anaerobic ln (Sin/S) = 0.0082 t + 0.0004 R2 = 0.799 Aerobic ln (Sin/S) = 0.0146 t - 0.0902 R2 = 0.937

ln (Sin/S)

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Time (days)
Fig. 3. First order kinetics of leachate biodegradation under aerobic and anaerobic conditions.

3.3. Biological treatment of COD is much lower under aerobic conditions. This observation is not reported by other articles, in which aerobic and anaerobic degradation conduct to similar results [2]. First order kinetics applied to leachate biodegradation (Fig. 3) shows kinetic coefcients to be different under aerobic and anaerobic conditions: kaerobic = 0.0146 d1 kanaerobic = 0.0082 d1 Aerobic biodegradation is faster because kinetic coefcient doubles anaerobic kinetic coefcient. An important difference between both environments is the intensity of degradation (nal value of COD). Under aerobic conditions degradation rate conducts to a further COD removal. No data about quantication of biodegradability has been found in literature for comparison to the results obtained in this work. Ammonia (initial concentration in leachate 2814 mg/L, Table 1) was reduced in aerobic medium to a nal value of 1278 mg/L, while in anaerobic medium it was reduced to 2274 mg/L. pH increased gradually in both experiments aerobic and anaerobic to nal values of 9.43 and 8.41 respectively. Aerobic biological treatment applied to leachate reduces COD in 52%. This result is lower compared to other authors in aerobic biological treatment of much lower organic loaded leachates [2]. Other authors obtain similar results in COD removal [6]. Efuent COD value (average value 18,950 mg O2 /L) is higher compared to nal value in biodegradability tests (Fig. 2), due to high concentration of total solids, which are almost not reduced in biological treatment. After treatment total solids concentration remains similar to concentration in leachate and reduction is only about 10%. Volatile solids are considerably reduced after biological treatment (average nal value 6372 mg/L), compared to concentration value in leachate (Table 1, TVS), but an important fraction is not degraded in biological treatment. Nitrogen content of leachate is 3320 mg/L as total nitrogen (Table 1, TN) and is reduced to 2319 mg/L after biological treatment. More important fractions detected are ammonia (829 mg/L) and nitrate (330 mg/L). Aerobic biological treatment converts leachate in a stable liquid, in terms of biotransformation, and with high nutrient content. Application in agriculture seems to be best use for this liquid.

50000 45000 40000

Aerobic Anaerobic

3.4. Dynamic simulation For predicting efuent COD concentration after biological treatment, dynamic model has been applied. Fluctuating values on the output variable can be simulated by the model. This behaviour is a consequence of variation of the dynamic variables (temperature and biomass concentration) in biological treatment. The values used in simulation are recorded in a table in supplementary materials, in which the second column is the analysed value of COD, what will be compared to the simulated value. Ks was set using average value of efuent COD in table (Ks = 18,950 mg/L). Results of simulation are recorded in Fig. 4. In general, dynamic model is predicting efuent COD concentration adequately. Average error for the whole simulation is 1.74% although there are some individual errors (normally between 10 and 15% and in few cases over 20%) which are difcult to identify due to the structure of the dynamic equation: Eq. (10) is affected by 2 dynamic variables ( H and XBH ), 3 kinetic parameters (YH , H,max and Ks ) and 2 operation parameters ( and Ss,in ).

COD (mg O2/L)

35000 30000 25000 20000 15000 10000 5000 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Time (days)
Fig. 2. Biodegradability of leachate in aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Error bars have been included for average standard deviations of analysis performed in triplicate: 720 mg O2 /L (aerobic) and 516 mg O2 /L (anaerobic).

50

M. Tamrat et al. / Biochemical Engineering Journal 66 (2012) 4651

state conditions. At real scale, results of efuent COD after biological treatment can be predicted by this model. Kinetic coefcients of the model shows leachate to be a halfbiodegradable liquid (Ks = 18,950 mg/L) with a low degradation rate ( H,max = 0.21 d1 ). Acknowledgments M. Tamrat wishes to acknowledge Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation from Spain for nancial support (MAEC grant). Authors want to thank the staff of the Treatment Centre of Municipal Solid Wastes from Salamanca for their cooperation, specially Mr. Roberto Hernndez and Mss. Elvira Gonzlez. We also thank General Service of Applied Chemical Analysis of the University of Salamanca for assistance in analysis of metals in leachate.
Fig. 4. Simulation of efuent COD values by the dynamic model. Simulated values were obtained by the dynamic model and analysed values were measured in laboratory.

References
[1] EUROSTAT, Amount of urban wastes recovered for habitant in one year, Public Bank of Environmental Indexes of the Ministry of Environment in Spain, 2007. [2] S. Renou, J.G. Givaudan, S. Poulain, F. Dirassouyan, P. Moulin, Landll leachate treatment: review and opportunity, J. Hazard. Mater. 150 (2008) 468493, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2007.09.077. [3] H. Li, S. Zhou, Y. Sun, P. Feng, J. Li, Advanced treatment of landll leachate by a new combination process in a full-scale plant, J. Hazard. Mater. 172 (2009) 408415, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2009.07.034. [4] S. Zhang, Y. Peng, S. Wang, S. Zheng, J. Gou, Organic matter and concentrated nitrogen removal by shortcut nitrication and denitrication from municipal landll leachate, J. Environ. Sci. 19 (2007) 647651. [5] S. Kheradmand, A. Karimi-Jashni, M. Sartaj, Treatment of municipal landll leachate using a combined anaerobic digester and activated sludge system, Waste Manage. 30 (2010) 10251031, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ j.wasman.2010.01.021. [6] A. Ding, Z. Zhang, J. Fu, L. Cheng, Biological control of leachate from municipal landlls, Chemosphere 44 (2001) 18, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S00456535(00)00377-5. [7] J. Wiszniowski, D. Robert, J. Surmacz-Gorska, K. Miksch, J.V. Weber, Landll leachate treatment methods: a review, Environ. Chem. Lett. 4 (2006) 5161, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10311-005-0016-z. [8] M. Henze, C.P.L. Grady, W. Gujer, G.vR. Marais, T. Matsuo, A general model for single-sludge wastewater treatment systems, Water Res. 21 (5) (1987) 505515, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0043-1354(87)90058-3. [9] W. Gujer, M. Henze, T. Mino, T. Matsuo, M.C. Wentzel, G.v.R. Marais, The activated sludge model no. 2: biological phosphorus removal, Water Sci. Technol. 31 (2) (1995) 111, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0273-1223(95)00175-M. [10] A.P.H.A., A.W.W.A., W.E.F. (Ed.), Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, American Public Health Association, Washington DC, 2005. [11] Metcalf & Eddy, G. Tchobanoglous, F. Burton, H.D. Stensel, Wastewater Engineering: Treatment and Reuse, McGraw-Hill, 4th ed., New York, 2002. [12] J.E. Bailey, D.F. Ollis, Biochemical Engineering Fundamentals, 2nd ed., McGrawHill, New York, 1986. [13] C. Costa, J. Rodrguez, M.C. Mrquez, A simplied dynamic model for the activated sludge process with high strength wastewaters, Environ. Model. Assess. 14 (2009) 739747, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10666-008-9175-1. [14] M. Henze, W. Gujer, T. Mino, T. Matsuo, M.C. Wentzel, G.v.R. Marais, M. van Loosdrecht, Activated sludge model no. 2d, ASM2D, Water Sci. Technol. 39 (1) (1999) 165182, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0273-1223(98)00829-4. [15] K.V. Gernaey, M.C.M. van Loosdrecht, M. Henze, M. Lind, S.B. Jorgensen, Activated sludge wastewater treatment plant modelling and simulation: state of the art, Environ. Model. Software 19 (2004) 763783, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2003.03.005. [16] T.A. Kurniawan, W. Lo, G. Chan, Physico-chemical treatments for removal of recalcitrant contaminants from landll leachate, J. Hazard. Mater. 129 (2006) 80100, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2005.08.010. [17] L.A. Galeano, M.A. Vicente, A. Gil, Treatment of municipal leachate of landll by Fenton-like heterogeneous catalytic wet peroxide oxidation using an Al/Fe-pillared montmorillonite as active catalyst, Chem. Eng. J. (2011), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2011.10.031. [18] M. Warith, Bioreactor landlls: experimental and eld results, Waste Manage. 22 (2002) 717, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0956-053X(01)00014-9. [19] P. He, J. Xue, L. Shao, G. Li, D. Lee, Dissolved organic matter (DOM) in recycled leachate of bioreactor landll, Water Res. 40 (7) (2006) 14651473, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2006.01.048. [20] U. Sollfrank, W. Gujer, Characterisation of domestic wastewater for mathematical modelling of the activated sludge process, Water Sci. Technol. 23 (1991) 10571066. [21] G. Koch, M. Khni, W. Gujer, H. Siegrist, Calibration and validation of activated sludge model no. 3 for Swiss municipal wastewater, Water Res. 34 (14) (2000) 35803590, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0043-1354(00)00105-6.

Kinetic coefcients obtained in the simulation are: YH = 0.60 Ks = 18, 950 mg/L
H,max

= 0.21 d1 . . .

= 0.21 1.072(T 20) d1

Growth coefcient (YH ) is in the range expected for biological treatment [20,21]. Half saturation constant (Ks ) is very high due to the high value of inuent organic load and maximum specic growth rate ( H,max ) is much lower comparing to domestic wastewater treatment [2224]. In view of Fig. 4 simulation overestimates output variable during rst days of operation (days 1341), when biomass concentration is lower (Table in Supplementary materials). After day 60, dynamic model underestimates efuent COD value, corresponding to higher values of biomass concentration. At the end of the treatment, newly dynamic model overestimates output variable, when biomass concentration decreases. It is known biomass parameter to be measured by weight of active and inert biomass and when the value is high (in this case over 10,000 mg/L) inert fraction can be important. The response of the model is to consider inert fraction as active biomass and the output variable decreases (efuent COD is underestimated). Supplementary material related to this article found, in the online version, at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bej.2012.04.012. 4. Conclusions Leachates from treatment centres of municipal solid wastes are liquids with high organic load and rich in nutrients, specially nitrogen and potassium. Their best use seems to be application in agriculture, but for this purpose, biological treatment is needed for stabilizing fermentation and reducing odours. Leachate from treatment centre of Salamanca, Spain, has an organic load of 42,310 mg O2 /L COD, total nitrogen 3320 mg/L and potassium 4376 mg/L. In view of biodegradability tests, aerobic biological treatment seems to be more efcient for stabilization of this residue. After biological treatment, organic load is reduced to 18,950 mg O2 /L COD and liquid obtained has no odours. Nitrogen content is reduced to 2319 mg/L in total nitrogen (TN), being 829 mg/L of ammonia and 330 mg/L of nitrate. This liquid has important fertilizing properties to be used in agriculture. Biological treatment of leachate is monitored by a dynamic model which predicts efuent COD value under non steady

M. Tamrat et al. / Biochemical Engineering Journal 66 (2012) 4651 [22] W. Gujer, M. Henze, T. Mino, M. van Loosdrecht, Activated sludge model no. 3, Water Sci. Technol. 39 (1) (1999) 183193, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S02731223(98)00785-9. [23] R. Brun, M. Khni, H. Siegrist, W. Gujer, P. Reichert, Practical identiability of ASM2d parameters-systematic selection and tuning of parameter

51

subsets, Water Res. 36 (2002) 41134127, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S00431354(02)00104-5. [24] I.Y. Smets, J.V. Haegebaert, R. Carrette, J.F. van Impe, Linearization of the activated sludge model ASM1 for fast and reliable predictions, Water Res. 37 (2003) 18311851, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0043-1354(02)00580-8.