[Impact of leachate recirculation loadings on efficiency of landfill gas (LFG) generation]

Effects of leachate recirculation loading on the efficiency of aerogenesis or methanogenesis of municipal solid wastes (MSWs) was investigated in four simulated anaerobic bioreactors (R1-R4), which were filled with 30 tons of wet weight waste each and recirculated weekly with 1.6, 0.8 and 0.2 m3 leachate and 0.1 m3 pure water, respectively. The results indicated that R1, with the highest recirculation ratio of 5.3%, began to produce landfill gas (LFG) largely after 5 weeks of leachate recirculation, while the other columns took 7-13 more weeks of lag phase time of LFG production. And LFG generation rates had good relationships with pollution loadings, such as COD and VFA in the leachate. By the 50th week, the waste in R1 was more stabilized with the highest loading rate. The accumulative transfer ratios to gas phase of TOC and COD were 28.96% and 14.57%, respectively, which meant large mount of organic matter was carried out by the effluent of the early stage and thus the potential of LFG generation was reduced. Therefore, to enhance the efficiency of LFG generation, the regimes of leachate recirculation in bioreactor landfills should be adjusted timely according to the phases of waste stabilization.