Enhancing Gas Production in Landfill Bioreactors: Flow-Through Column Study on Leachate Augmentation with Enzyme

Abstract

Landfill bioreactors have many advantages relative to conventional dry-tomb sanitary landfills. Leachate augmentation with enzymes (prior to its recirculation) to enhance waste degradation and gas production in landfill bioreactors is a relatively new concept and very little is known about its applicability. The research reported in this paper was undertaken to determine the viability of enzymatic augmentation of leachate to enhance waste-degradation rates at later stages of anaerobic bioreactor operation. There was a five-fold increase in the cumulative methane production in enzyme-added flow-through columns compared with the control column. This observation is attributed to an increase in the fraction of waste being degraded, as indicated by the increasing levels of dissolved organic carbon and decreased lignin levels in the waste.