Short tests to couple N2O emission mitigation and nitrogen removal strategies for landfill leachate recirculation

Dong Wu, Chao Wang, Jan Dolfing, Bing Xie*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Landfills implemented with onsite leachate recirculation can efficiently remove pollutants, but currently they are reckoned as N2O emission hot spots. In this project, we evaluated the relationship between N2O emission and nitrogen (N) removal efficiency with different types of leachate recirculated. Nitrate supplemented leachate showed low N2O emission rates with the highest N removal efficiency (~70%), which was equivalent to ~1% nitrogen emitted as N2O. Although in nitrite containing leachates' N removal efficiencies also reached to ~60%, their emitted N2O comprised ~40% of total removed nitrogen. Increasing nitrogen load promoted N2O emission and N removal efficiency, except in ammonia type leachate. When the ratio of BOD to total nitrogen increased from 0.2 to 0.4, the N2O emission flux from nitrate supplemented leachate decreased from ~25 to <0.5μgN/kg-soil·h. We argue prior to leachate in situ recirculation, sufficient pre-aeration is critical to mitigate N2O surges and simultaneously enhance nitrogen removal efficiency.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)19-25
Number of pages7
JournalScience of the Total Environment
Volume512-513
Early online date19 Jan 2015
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Apr 2015
Externally publishedYes

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