An experimental study on the denitrification of leachate continuously loaded from a municipal waste landfill

A laboratory experiment on denitrification was carried out in order to develop a technology for treatment of leachate from municipal waste landfill. The authors have already collected fundamental data from a preliminary experiment on denitrification in a closed test tank. The present experiment was performed in a circulating test tank with leachate loading similar to the prototype. Investigation was performed to determine how parameters, such as decomposable organic compounds, phosphorus, denitrifiers and nitrogen loading rate, affected denitrification performance. A functional dependency of denitrification rate on the hydraulic retention time obtained from the experiment provides information useful for developing and planning a treatment plant.