Abstract

Abstract Landfill leachate is well known as one of the most serious environmental problems due to the high concentrations of organic and inorganic compounds. Several methods have been reported for the treatment and detoxification of landfill leachate. However, high organic load and the presence of refractory organic pollutants resulted in inefficiency of those methods when at least applied alone. The present work recommended a sequence of processes: electrocoagulation (EC), electrooxidation (EO) and peroxymonosulfate (PMS)/UV/CuFe2O4 (sulfate radical-based advanced oxidation process, SR-AOP) for treatment of landfill leachate. A parametric evaluation was conducted for each process including pH, current densities, electrode type, catalyst loading, PMS dosage and reaction time. Al and Fe electrodes for the EC process and Pt, PbO2 and graphite for the EO process were investigated. The results showed that Fe and PbO2 were more efficient than other electrodes for EC and EO respectively. COD removal efficiencies were up to 60.0, 50.0 and 77.9% for EC, EO and SR-AOP, respectively. Removal efficiencies for the sequential process were 95.6, 90.5, 91.6 and 99.8% for COD, TOC, BOD and ammonia (NH4-N) respectively. Biodegradability was significantly enhanced according to the BOD/COD ratio and the average oxidation state of carbon (AOSC). Biodegradation test indicated that the organic matter was completely degraded by activated sludge in seven days. Phytotoxicity experiments also demonstrated a considerable reduction in phytotoxicity after each process. The results confirmed that the proposed sequence is efficient for COD removal, phytotoxicity reduction and biodegradability improvement being an acceptable treatment for landfill leachates.