Journal of Environmental Research

Simultaneous treatment of leachates and landfill gas (CH4) by a passive biofiltration process well adapted for Nordic regions

Joint Event on 4^th International Conference on Pollution Control & Sustainable Environment & 6^th Edition of International Conference on Water Pollution & Sewage Management
July 26-27, 2018 Rome, Italy

Rino Dube, Nicolas Turgeon, Yann Le Bihan and Gerardo Buelna

Quebec Industrial Research Center, Canada

ScientificTracks Abstracts: J Environ Res

Abstract

Leachate treatment and the elimination of landfill gas (LFG) are the main environmental challenges faced by operators in the province of Quebec, Canada. CRIQ, in collaboration with its partners (Université Laval and Université de Sherbrooke), has been working for more than ten years on the development of biofiltration processes for the treatment of leachate and methane (CH4). The leachates treatment is intended to comply with the limit values as prescribed in the regulation (in particular BOD: 65 mg/l, ammonium: 10 mgN_NH4/l, zinc: 0.07 mg Zn/l and phosphorus: 0.3 mg Ptot/l). The process makes it possible to envisage, using methanotrophic bacteria that are unique in their ability to use CH4 as a source of carbon and energy, the treatment of landfill gas. The results obtained in laboratory tests over a period of 16 months for simultaneous treatment (leachate-methane) will be shown for parameters such as BOD5, MES, NH4, NO3-, pH, CH4. The behaviors observed for nitrogen are presented in figures 1 and 2. For the period when the conditions were optimal (250th to 450th day) the nitrification process made it possible to reach N-NH4 transformation rates higher than 95% (output concentration of less than 10 mgN NH4/l). Considering the average concentration of N_NH4 contained in the leachates (680 mg N-NH4/l) as well as the observed transformation rates (nitrification), the elimination of N-NO3 in the biofiltration process would be attributable to the activity methanotrophic bacteria (methanotrophic denitrification). Overall, the results obtained make it possible for landfill operators to make significant gains in terms of sustainable development (passive technology, increased treatment of nitrogen (NH4 and NO3), autothermal biological process), reduction of GHG emissions, etc.). Those work led to a patent in 2017. Future work planned is on-site testing using a prototype Recent Publications 1. Dia O, P Drogui, G Buelna and R Dubé (2017) Strategical approach to prevent ammonia formation during electrocoagulation of landfill leachate obtained from a biofiltration process. Separation and Purification Technology 189:253-259. 2. Dia O, Drogui P, Buelna G, Dubé R and Ben Salah Ihsen (2017) Electrocoagulation of bio-filtrated landfill leachate: Fractionation of organic matter and influence of anode materials. Chemosphere 168:1136-1141. 3. M Zolfaghari, P Drogui, S K Brar, G Buelna and R Dubé (2016) Unwanted metals and hydrophobic contaminants in bioreactor effluents are associated with the presence of humic substances. Environmental Chemistry Letters DOI: 10.1007/s10311-016-0598-7.

Biography

Rino Dubé has held a position as a Research and Development Officer at the Centre de recherche industrielle du Québec (CRIQ) since 1995. He is a civil engineer by training, specializing in environment and bioprocesses with a Master’s degree from Université Laval. Mr. Dubé carries out laboratory-scale and large-scale technological innovation projects in the agricultural, industrial and municipal wastewater sectors, more recently including treatment of leachates from composting sites and landfills. He has conducted several projects on removal/ transformation of nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus). In particular, he has participated actively in the development of biofiltration on organic media for the simultaneously treatment of highly-charged liquids and gases. This work was concretized in twenty pilot systems installed in the field in an industrial context, and has been the subject of several articles and lectures, as well as four invention patents.

E-mail: rino.dube@criq.qc.ca