| Much research has been done on landfill leachate recirculation and how this practice has benefited society such as: more methane gas produced to be used as an energy source, faster solid waste degradation in several years compared to several decades, and reducing landfill post closure care and monitoring costs. However, little research has been conducted on the impact of different bacterial seeds on startup characteristics of these bioreactor landfills such as: pH, chemical oxygen demand (COD), dissolved oxygen (DO), landfill gas production, and solid waste degradation rates. Anaerobic digested sludge (ADS) from an anaerobic digester and aerobic waste activated sludge (WAS) from a wastewater treatment plant are the two different bacterial seeds used in this study to evaluate the startup and performance characteristics of two laboratory scaled, simulated, anaerobic bioreactor landfill columns. The objective of this research is to determine which inoculum performs the best at achieving accelerated gas production and solid waste degradation rates, and the quality of landfill leachate treatment as well as its economical and practical usage in the field at full scale bioreactor landfills. |
