A pilot-scale test on the treatment of biological pretreated leachate by the synergy of ozonation-biological treatment-catalytic ozonation

In this pilot-scale test, the ozonation-biological treatment-catalytic ozonation system was performed to treat complex organics and highly-concentrated total nitrogen (TN) in biological pretreated incineration leachate. The test results showed that the ratio of five-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) / chemical oxygen demand (COD) increased from 0.059 to 0.237, which indicated that the concentration of biodegradable COD (CODbio) increased by ozonation pre-treatment process. In addition, the TN removal mainly occurred in anaerobic zone due to direct denitrification by the activated bacteria, which were domesticated through different influent ratio. Moreover, it was necessary to add catalytic ozonation process to reach higher direct effluent discharge criteria. After 60 days repeated debugging, the removal rate of COD and TN reached 88.5% and 98.2%, respectively. Finally, the total cost of this system was (sic) 6.65 /m(3) ($ 0.95 /m(3)), which was acceptable for the treatment of biological pretreated leachate. This pilot-scale test could provide some guiding information for the treatment of leachate containing highly-concentrated TN with low CODbio/N by the composite system.