Pentachlorophenol degradation in landfill drainage models

Abstract

The paper describes a laboratory experiment on the biological activity of bacterial populations derived from landfill waste and established on granular materials under conditions similar to those in a landfill drainage system. Two perspex laboratory columns were used to model the landfill drainage system. Artificially formulated leachate was recycled through the columns and the composition of the leachate and the gas produced was measured.

The objectives of the research are to show that the landfill drainage system model can act as a fixed bed anaerobic reactor producing gas and to investigate the effect of a hazardous chemical, pentachlorophenol in particular, on microbial activity and the potential for its degradation by bacteria.

The results have shown that bacteria derived from landfill waste and established once on landfill drainage aggregates have the ability to survive at low levels of activity and rapidly revive after the addition of nutrients in the form of recirculating leachates.