Electro-catalytic ozonation for improving the biodegradability of mature landfill leachate

Landfill leachate contains complex, resistant, and diverse compounds that are considered as an environmental health problem. This study aims to investigate the efficacy of integrated homogeneous catalytic ozonation and electrochemical process for improving the biodegradability of landfill. This experimental study was conducted on real landfill leachate on the laboratory scale. The variables were current density (O₃/H₂O₂-42.1 mA/cm²), ozone concentrations (100-400 mg/h), the initial pH (3-9), and the reaction times (1-6 h). The optimum operating condition was obtained at 1.42 mA/m², 400 mg/h of ozone concentration, initial pH of 3, during 3 h. In the proposed integrated catalytic ozonation-electrochemical process, the chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) concentrations were removed to 3381.9 and 1521.8 mg/L, respectively. Under the optimum condition, the biodegradability index increased from 0.27 to 0.45. The results showed that the electro-catalytic ozonation process has a significant effect on the biodegradability index and could improve the removal efficiency of landfill leachate treatments.