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Bioresource Technology 99 (2008) 54185426

Comparison of aerobic and anaerobic degradation of municipal

solid waste in bioreactor landlls
A. Suna Erses, Turgut T. Onay, Orhan Yenigun *
Bogazici University, Institute of Environmental Sciences, Bebek, 34342 Istanbul, Turkey

Received 25 August 2007; received in revised form 2 November 2007; accepted 6 November 2007
Available online 21 December 2007

Abstract

Two landll bioreactors were operated under aerobic and anaerobic conditions in a thermo-insulated room at a constant temperature
of 32 C. Reactors were lled with 19.5 kg of shredded synthetic solid waste prepared according to the average municipal solid waste
compositions determined in Istanbul and operated under wet-tomb management strategy by using leachate recirculation. Aerobic con-
ditions in the reactor were developed by using an air compressor. The results of experiments indicated that aerobic reactor had higher
organic, nitrogen, phosphorus and alkali metal removal eciencies than the anaerobic one. Furthermore, stabilization time considerably
decreased when using aerobic processes with leachate recirculation compared to the anaerobic system with the same recirculation scheme.
2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Aerobic; Anaerobic; Bioreactor; Landll; Leachate recirculation

1. Introduction tal impacts. In order to achieve these goals, the Landll

Municipal solid waste (MSW) landlls are generally
operated by conventional landlling techniques, where
anaerobic conditions are created within the landll waste.
However, decomposition of solid waste may cause environ-
mental problems if emission of landll gas is not controlled
and landll leachate seeps down to groundwaters. Under
anaerobic conditions within a landll site, stabilization
process is slow and may increase the potential risks to
human health and the environment (Hudgins and March,
1998). According to Kruempelbeck and Ehrig (1999), the
long term environmental impact caused by municipal solid
waste (MSW) landlls may last for centuries. As a result of
this, more stringent regulations for monitoring landlls, in
addition to their design and operation, are needed. Recent
European regulations on waste management are primarily
intended to reduce the use of landlling, mainly because of
problems generated by the above-mentioned environmen-
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 212 3596946; fax: +90 212 2575033.
E-mail address: yeniguno@boun.edu.tr (O. Yenigun).
Directive adopted by the EU requires that the amount of
biodegradable MSW going to the landll should be
reduced by 25% until 2002, 50% by 2005 and 75% by
2010 (Council of the European Union, 1999). In spite of
extensive laws and regulations to reduce the waste quan-
tity, landlling is expected to be the most commonly
employed disposal method worldwide since it is a compar-
atively simple and economic way for solid waste disposal.
Moreover, landlling is the ultimate disposal method for
wastes that cannot be recovered.
Conventional sanitary landlls consist of cells and lifts
with liners, drains, gas vents, leak detection systems with
intermediate and nal covers. On the other hand, due to
inadequacies of conventional waste management practices,
extensive lab-scale and full-scale investigations were carried
out to answer the essential questions of low-emission land-
lling. Increasing attention is being given to the enhance-
ment of waste stabilization by leachate recirculation to
reduce the time required for waste degradation, improve
leachate quality and enhance the rate of gas produc-
tion. Bioreactor landll systems as a modication of

0960-8524/$ - see front matter 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2007.11.008
 A.S. Erses et al. / Bioresource Technology 99 (2008) 54185426
conventional landll with the addition of leachate recircu-
lation were developed to minimize environmental impacts
through optimizing waste degradation. Here, leachate is
collected, stored and reinjected back into the landll to
promote in situ anaerobic biological degradation. The
advantages of leachate recirculation have been demon-
strated by many researchers that performed numerous
lysimeters and eld tests (Pohland, 1980; Tittlebaum,
1982; Kinman et al., 1987; Doedens and Cord-Landwehr,
1989; Otieno, 1994; Townsend et al., 1996; Chugh
et al., 1998; El-Fadel, 1999; Pohland and Kim, 1999,
2000; Onay and Pohland, 1998; San and Onay, 2001; Erses
and Onay, 2003).
On the other hand, as a new perspective on landlling
solid waste, aerobic landll technology has been evalu-
ated over the last few years to rapidly stabilize and
detoxify the waste, reduce methane gas, volatile organic
compounds and odor emissions as well as eliminate o
site leachate treatment needs (Purcell, 2000a,b; Read
et al., 2001; Jacobs et al., 2003; Kim, 2005; Cossu
et al., 2003). The results of these studies are summarized
in Table 1. In spite of the recent practices on aerobic
landlling, the eect of in situ aeration has not been
understood from the view point of the attenuation mech-
anism of contaminants during the stabilization period.
Until today all eld research has taken place using exist-
ing landll sites, so that many of the sites that are run as
full-scale aerobic landlls have used waste that has been
anaerobic for some time. There are questions yet to be
answered about the behaviour of waste that has never
been anaerobic (Read et al., 2001; Rich et al., 2007).
The purpose of this study was to compare the opera-
tional parameters and attenuation mechanisms of carbon,
nitrogen, phosphorus and alkali metal and their removal
in conventional anaerobic and aerobic bioreactor landlls
monitored under laboratory conditions.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Reactor congurations
The process of landll stabilization is strongly depended
on temperature. Two laboratory scale PVC reactors were
constructed in a thermo-insulated room kept at a constant
mesophilic temperature of 32 C to establish a favorable
growth environment for the microorganisms in the reactors.
Each reactor had a diameter of 0.35 m and a length of 1 m
(about 96 L). The reactors were equipped with three ports;
one port was used for drainage and sampling while the
other two ports were used to collect gas samples and add
liquid. Leachate was stored in 18 L plexi-glass bottles at
the bottom of reactor for leachate recirculation. Aerobic
conditions in the reactor were maintained by using an air
compressor. Leachate recycle was used to provide transport
mechanism for microorganisms and stabilization products
for further conversion. To determine daily temperature
changes in the bioreactors, thermocouples were installed.
5419
Precipitation was simulated by feeding the reactors with dis-
tilled water periodically. Daily gas production was mea-
sured by using wet gasmeters (Shinagawa Corporation).
2.2. Reactor loadings
Simulated landll reactors were loaded with 19.5 kg of
shredded and compacted solid waste mixture. The syn-
thetic solid waste mixture representing typical solid waste
composition of Istanbul consisted of 45% organic material
(food + garden), 14.5% paper, 9.5% plastic, 5.6% textile,
3.8% glass, 2.2% metal, 4.4% ceramic, 15% other materials
(dust, wood, brick, miscellaneous) by weight.
2.3. Reactor operations
In this study, one reactor was operated as aerobic to bet-
ter understand the eect of aeration on solid waste degra-
dation. The other one was operated as an anaerobic
bioreactor which represented conventional sanitary landll
conditions. The reactors were constructed under wet-tomb
management strategy. Throughout the study period, 1 L of
collected leachate in storage bottles was recycled to reac-
tors once per week. Moreover, 500 mL/week distilled
water, corresponding to an equivalent of 20 cm/year rain-
fall, was added to the reactors. In the aerobic reactor, the
air inlet at the bottom of the reactor was connected to an
air pump operating at 2.2 L/min for 5 h in a day to main-
tain aerobic conditions from start to end.
2.4. Experimental analysis
Leachate and gas samples were monitored on a regular
basis to understand and compare the degree of waste stabil-
ization in each reactor. Leachate samples were analyzed for
chemical oxygen demand (COD), total organic carbon
(TOC), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), pH, alkalin-
ity, conductivity, total kjhedal nitrogen (TKN), ammo-
nia-nitrogen, orthophosphate, chloride and alkali metals
(Na, K, Ca, Mg). All these analyses were performed
according to Standard Methods (APHA AWWA, 1992).
Gas production and its composition were measured daily.
The gas composition in the headspace (O2, N2, CO2 and
CH4) was analyzed using an HP 6850 gas chromatograph
(Carboxen 1010 plot column 30 m  0.53 mm) equipped
with a thermal conductivity detector (TCD).
3. Results and discussion
3.1. The impact on bioreactor landll emissions: leachate and
gas
3.1.1. pH and alkalinity
The change in leachate pH in both the reactors is given
in Fig. 1. Initially, pH values of both reactors were the
same (pH 5.83). Both aerobic and anaerobic reactors
started o in acidic conditions in the beginning of the
5420 A.S. Erses et al. / Bioresource Technology 99 (2008) 54185426

Operation day
12 10000

21 months
11

365 days
120 days

Alkalinity (mg/L as CaCO3)

10
9 1000
8

pH
50%, reduced leachate organic strength by up to 70% and leachate volumes by greater than 80%. Waste
settlement over the trial period of 918 months was also noted to increase by an additional 910%
7
6 100
5
4
More than 90% of COD, BOD and TOC concentration decreased within 100 days 3 10
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
Time (Days)
Anaerobic Bioreactor pH Aerobic Bioreactor pH
Anaerobic Bioreactor Alkalinity Aerobic Bioreactor Alkalinity

Fig. 1. Leachate pH values and alkalinity concentrations for the

anaerobic and aerobic bioreactors.
Rapid and marked oxidation of organics and nitrogen

experiment. However, the acidic pH in aerobic reactor

45% VS destruction, 2-year degradation timescales

increased to neutral values in a few days and was measured

between 7.5 and 8.0 after day 35 until the very end. Two
Odour have been reported to be less pungent

phases (acidic and methanogenic or alkaline) of pH in

the anaerobic reactor were observed during the test period.
Initial acidic pH values in the anaerobic bioreactor
15% biodegradation over 2 years

increased sharply and reached to 7.0 on day 446 after the

onset of methanogenic activity and stayed between 7.0
and 7.5 during this phase. As it can be seen from this gure,
the pH of the aerobic reactor was more alkaline than the
pH from anaerobic reactor due to CO2 stripping by air; a
decrease in CO2 leads to a decrease in carbonic acid
(H2CO3) and bicarbonate ion concentrations (HCO3 ) con-
suming H+ ions (Kim, 2005). This observation is also con-
Results

rmed with other studies in literature. The range of pH of

aerobic reactors has been reported as 7.09.0 (Stessel and
Murphy, 1992; OKeefe and Chynoweth, 2000; Agdag
Converted form anaerobic

and Sponza, 2004; Kim, 2005).

100 nL/h continuously

Adequate alkalinity, or buer capacity, is necessary to

maintain a stable pH in the digester for optimal biological
70120 mL/min

activity. An alkalinity level ranging from 1000 to 5000 mg/

to aerobic

L as CaCO3 was recommended by Tchobanoglous and

Air ow

Burton (1979). The measured leachate alkalinity for the

aerobic and anaerobic reactors are also provided in
Fig. 1. Initial alkalinity of aerobic and anaerobic reactors
Bioreactor, 12.8 kg waste
Bioreactor, 8.14 kg waste

were 3219 and 5768 mg/L as CaCO3. In the aerobic reac-

The results of related studies in literature

tor, alkalinity rst increased to its highest value of

(theoretical site) 4 ha
Landll area 6.5 ha

4500 mg/L as CaCO3 and then began to decrease on day

77 and reached to 660 mg/L as CaCO3 at the end of exper-
Characteristic
Landll area

Landll area

iment. Theoretical calculations revealed that there was no

requirement for excess alkalinity. On the other hand, in
the anaerobic reactor, leachate alkalinity changed between
5500 and 7500 mg/L as CaCO3 and remained relatively
constant during the acid formation phase. After transition
to methanogenic conditions, pH values increased and total
Jacobs et al.
(2000a,b)

Cossu et al.
Kim (2005)
Read et al.
Reference

alkalinity concentrations tended to decrease because meth-

(2001)

(2003)

(2003)
Table 1

Purcell

anogens utilized the available VFA as substrate. Total

alkalinity of the anaerobic reactor decreased to 3800 mg/
 A.S. Erses et al. / Bioresource Technology 99 (2008) 54185426
L as CaCO3 at end of the experiment. This was also con-
rmed by theoretical alkalinity computations.
3.1.2. COD, TOC and BOD5
Chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total organic car-
bon (TOC) were measured as indicators of leachate organic
strength. Leachate COD and TOC concentrations for aer-
obic and anaerobic reactors are presented in Fig. 2. The ini-
tial leachate COD concentrations of aerobic and anaerobic
reactors were 17,900 and 38,000 mg/L, respectively. The
COD concentrations in the aerobic reactor increased to
19,237 mg/L and decreased rapidly after pH was stabilized.
The COD concentrations on days 77 and 374 were deter-
mined as 1596 and 678 mg/L, respectively. On the other
hand, COD concentration in the anaerobic reactor
increased to 61,973 mg/L from 38,022 mg/L due to rapid
release and hydrolysis of complex organics from solid
waste to the leachate and then remained at the same high
concentrations due to the accumulation organic acids until
day 290. After the onset of methanogenic conditions that
was conrmed by gas composition, rst, COD concentra-
tions began to decrease slowly to 30,400 mg/L until day
433 and then declined rapidly to below 900 mg/L at the
end of experiment. COD and TOC concentrations showed
similarity (Fig. 2). Initial TOC concentrations for the
reactors are given as follows; aerobic reactor, 1438 mg/L;
anaerobic reactor, 17,990 mg/L. TOC concentrations
decreased to 218 mg/L in the aerobic reactor on day 374
and to 290 mg/L in the anaerobic reactor on day 630.
TOC concentration in the anaerobic reactor declined in
accordance with the progression of microbially mediated
stabilization processes also conrmed the increase in gas
production and high methane content of the biogas.
Landlled wastes are dominated by organic material
comprising (typically) 50% cellulose, 15% lignin, 10% hemi-
cellulose, 5% protein as well as starch, pectin, and other
soluble sugars (Barlaz, 1992). Cellulose is the most impor-
100000
10000
COD (mg/L)
1000
100
0 100 200 300 400 500
Time (Days)
Anaerobic Bioreactor COD Aerobic Bioreactor COD
Anaerobic Bioreactor TOC Aerobic Bioreactor TOC
Fig. 2. Leachate COD and TOC concentrations for the anaerobic and
aerobic bioreactors.
5421
tant carbon source for methanogenesis in landlls, however
it is not an easily biodegradable material under anaerobic
conditions. In fact, cellulose and hemicellulose, whose
half-lives are about 15 years, contribute to 90% of total
methane produced (Swarbrick, 2001). Hydrolysis of these
complex organics in the presence of oxygen enhance bio-
degradation rate and convert to organic carbon in the
waste mass to mostly carbon dioxide and water, with stabi-
lized humic material remaining. Waste decomposition
takes place within a few years under aerobic and controlled
conditions instead of several decades (Hudgins and Harper,
1999). The results of the present study conrmed those of
previous studies and indicated that approximately 90% of
COD removal was complete by days 72 and 462 for aerobic
and anaerobic reactors, respectively.
It is important to note that aeration enables signicantly
faster biodegradation of organic matter. The results of the
present study are similar to the ndings of Cossu et al.
(2003), who reported high COD values in the anaerobic
reactor (20,000 mg/L) compared to the aerobic reactor
(800 mg/L) after 120 days of operation. Carbon conversion
as a means of measuring the success of the aeration of the
waste mass has been investigated by Ritzkowski et al.
(2006). They observed a considerable reduction of leachate
COD and TOC concentrations after approximately 20 days
of aeration.
BOD5 indicated similar trend with COD and TOC
removal (Fig. 3). The BOD5 concentrations of the aerobic
reactor decreased rapidly while BOD5 concentrations of
the anaerobic reactor decreased slowly and then followed
rapid reduction after onset of methanogenic conditions.
BOD5 to COD ratio is often used to assess the biodegrad-
ability of the organic matter in leachate, and thus to under-
stand the degree of landll stabilization (Alvarez-Vazquez
et al., 2004). In old stabilized landlls, the BOD5/COD
ratio is below 0.10 (Kjeldsen et al., 2002). A low BOD5/
COD suggests that leachate is low in biodegradable organic
carbon and relatively high in hard-to-biodegrade organic
compounds such as humic compounds. In this research,
100000 initial high BOD5/COD ratio decreased from 0.57 to 0.03
100000
10000
TOC (mg/L)
10000
BOD5 (mg/L)
1000
1000
100
100 10
600 700 Anaerobic Bioreactor
Aerobic Bioreactor
1
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
Time (Days)
Fig. 3. Leachate BOD5 concentrations for the anaerobic and aerobic
bioreactors.
5422 A.S. Erses et al. / Bioresource Technology 99 (2008) 54185426

at the end of experiment in the aerobic reactor (Fig. 4). On 25000 1600
the other hand, relatively high BOD5/COD ratios were
obtained from the anaerobic reactors. Initial BOD5/COD

Cumulative Gas Production (L)

20000
ratio was about 0.7, and release of organics increased this

Daily Gas Production (mL)

1200
ratio to 0.80.9 after day 200 after which it decreased to
0.45 at around day 460, nally reaching 0.05 at the end 15000
of experiments. The values proposed by Kjeldsen et al.
(2002) were 0.58 and 0.06 for the acid phase and the meth- 800

anogenic phase, respectively. Borglin et al. (2004) found 10000

that BOD5/COD ratio of aerobic and anaerobic reactors
were 0.03 and 0.45, respectively, after 365 days. 400
5000

3.1.3. Biogas
Cumulative and daily gas production of the anaerobic 0 0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
reactor have been given in Fig. 5. The changes in gas con- Time (Days)
centrations of the anaerobic reactors is presented in Fig. 6.
Fig. 5. Daily and cumulative gas production from the anaerobic
In the start-up period, organic matter in the reactors are bioreactor.
hydrolyzed and the produced organic acids cease gas pro-
duction. During the intermediate anaerobic degradation
stage, methanogenic bacteria slowly start to appear and
gas production rate increases (Murphy et al., 1995). In this 100
O2
study, the anaerobic reactor exhibited some retardation in 90
N2
terms of gas production, because the acidogenesis period 80 CO 2
Gas Composition (%)

lasted a long time, conrmed by high COD concentrations 70 CH4

and low pH values in the reactor. Increase in gas pro- 60

duction was observed around day 330 and reached to 50
20 L/day on day 445 which was the highest value of gas 40
production. Also methane content of biogas was about 30
48% during these days (Fig. 6). Methane and carbon diox- 20
ide are the principal gases produced during the decomposi- 10
tion of organic fraction of waste under anaerobic 0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
conditions. In the anaerobic reactor, methane, at rst, Time (Days)
was not observed due to the acidogenic conditions until
day 165 (Fig. 6). After this day, methane began to appear Fig. 6. Gas composition of the anaerobic bioreactor.
and increased to 50% by composition. Gas composition
of the anaerobic reactor during methanogenic phase was
49% CH4, 43% CO2, 0.5% O2 and 7.5% N2, respectively. by summing the observed daily gas production values
Maximum 9 L of methane was generated on day of highest within the experimental period. The cumulative gas pro-
gas production while 80% of COD had been removed. This duction in the reactor was recorded as 1497 L. Cumulative
result is in good agreement with the ndings of San and methane and carbon dioxide productions were 690 and
Onay (2001). Cumulative gas production was calculated 609 L, respectively. Methane yield was determined as
158 L/kg dry solid waste. Other studies have found that
1 the methane yield from landlls is in the range 60170
Anaerobic Bioreactor
Aerobic Bioreactor
L/kg of dry refuse (El-Fadel et al., 1996). Barlaz and
0.8 Ham (1989) calculated theoretical maximum yield of meth-
ane as 373 L CH4/kg wet solid waste.
BOD5 /COD

0.6 As can be seen in Fig. 5, after conversion of easily

degradable organic substances, gas production decreased
0.4 and gas utilization was no longer possible. In conventional
landlls, gas production inevitably slows down until its use
0.2 as a source of energy is no longer economically viable, but
after this point it is still produced in large enough quanti-
0 ties to require treating before it can be emitted to the atmo-
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 sphere (Rich et al., 2007). The uncontrolled CH4 emissions
Time (Days)
from landlls contribute to the greenhouse eect. By short-
Fig. 4. BOD5/COD ratio for the anaerobic and aerobic bioreactors. ening the ensuing unprotable period, aeration of a landll
 A.S. Erses et al. / Bioresource Technology 99 (2008) 54185426
can save on gas treatment costs. The introduction of aero-
bic conditions throughout the waste mass reduced methane
level rapidly and kept it at a minimum (Read et al., 2001;
Ritzkowski et al., 2006). In one other related work, Leikam
et al. (1997) indicated that methane concentrations in land-
ll gas could be reduced from 60% to 1015% in 710 days
by air injection.
Under aerobic conditions some of the organic carbon is
the waste mass is emitted as carbon dioxide and some
would be stabilized as carbonates. The intensity of the car-
bon conversion depends greatly on ambient conditions
around the microorganisms (e.g. oxygen concentration,
pH, temperature, water content) and the availability of bio-
logically degradable organic substances in the landlled
waste. In this study, gas composition of the aerobic reactor
was 4.95% CO2, 14.41% O2 and 80.64% N2, at the end of
the experiment.
3.1.4. Nitrogen and phosphorus
Nitrogen which has potential to pollute water and soil is
another major constituent in the leachate. The TKN and
ammonia-nitrogen concentrations for aerobic and anaero-
bic reactors are given in Fig. 7. Initial concentrations of
TKN and ammonia-nitrogen in both reactors were found
to be similar, indicating uniformity in waste composition
in the reactors. As a result of decomposition of organic
matter containing nitrogen, initial NH3-N concentration
increased from 390 mg/L to a maximum of 1064 mg/L
NH3-N for the anaerobic reactor. TKN concentrations
were also observed between 840 and 1590 mg/L. Protein
fraction of biodegradable wastes release ammonia-nitrogen
and they may accumulate in the leachate to concentrations
of 10006000 mg/L in anaerobic systems (Burton and Wat-
son-Craik, 1998, 2001; Calli et al., 2005a). The recircula-
tion practice in the anaerobic reactor reintroduces
ammonia to the system, keeping its value almost constant
throughout experiment. Several researches indicated that
10000
1000
TKN (mg/L)
100
10
1 1
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
Time (Days)
Anaerobic Bioreactor TKN AerobicBioreactor TKN
Anaerobic Bioreactor NH3 AerobicBioreactor NH3
Fig. 7. Leachate TKN and ammonia-nitrogen concentrations for the
anaerobic and aerobic bioreactors.
5423
NH3-N is a signicant long-term pollution problem in
landlls (Burton and Watson-Craik, 1998; Onay and Poh-
land, 1998; Price et al., 2003; He et al., 2007). The increased
ammonia concentrations intensify the toxicity of the leach-
ate. Pohland et al. (1987) stated that concentrations
between 200 and 1500 mg/L have shown to have no
adverse eects on anaerobic process, concentrations rang-
ing from 1500 to 3000 mg/L were shown to have inhibitory
eects at higher pH levels, and concentrations above
3000 mg/L were very toxic. However Calli et al. (2005b)
have shown that NH3-N levels up to 6000 mg/L could be
tolerated in anaerobic bioreactors. In this study, NH3-N
concentrations in the anaerobic reactor do not reach inhib-
itory or toxic levels (Fig. 7). On the other hand, under aer-
obic conditions, the ammonia-nitrogen is oxidized to nitrite
and nitrate by nitrifying bacteria (nitrobacter and nitroso-
monas). TKN and ammonia-nitrogen concentrations in the
leachate of the aerobic reactor indicated the same decreas-
ing trend. Initial TKN and ammonia-nitrogen concentra-
tions were measured as 620 and 399 mg/L, respectively.
TKN concentration decreased to 140 mg/L on day 108
and 42 mg/L on day 178 and stayed constant throughout
the study. NH3-N concentrations, on the other hand,
decreased to 132 mg/L on day 116 and 14 mg/L on day
175 and continued to decline slightly until reaching to
5 mg/L at the end. These results agree with the ndings
of Cossu et al. (2003), in which the ammonium concentra-
tion declined to 56 NH3-N mg/L after 120 days of opera-
tion in the aerobic reactor.
The initial concentrations of orthophosphate in the
aerobic and anaerobic reactors (Fig. 8) were 250 and
168 mg/L, respectively. High initial orthophosphate con-
centration in the aerobic reactor decreased to 50 mg/L on
day 33. This decrease continued until day 200 and then,
orthophosphate concentrations stayed at a constant value
of about 12 mg/L. On the other hand, orthophosphate con-
centration of the anaerobic reactor increased to 410 mg/L
as a result of the hydrolysis of organic phosphorus com-
pounds and then began to decrease to 236 mg/L on day
10000 113, 82 mg/L on day 216, 40 mg/L on day 446 and reached
to 25 mg/L at the end of the experiment. The decline in
1000
1000
NH3 (mg/L)
Anaerobic Bioreactor Aerobic Bioreactor
100
100
PO4 (mg/L)
10
10
1
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
Time (Days)
Fig. 8. Leachate orthophosphate concentrations for the anaerobic and
aerobic bioreactors.
5424 A.S. Erses et al. / Bioresource Technology 99 (2008) 54185426
orthophosphate concentration may have been the results of
orthophosphate assimilation by microorganisms and
dilution.
3.1.5. Chloride, metals and conductivity
Chloride was monitored as a conservative tracer in
order to estimate the dilution and washout eects. The
chloride concentrations of aerobic and anaerobic reactor
indicated similar decreasing trend because the same
amount rain water was added and same recirculation ratio
was applied to the reactors. Decrease in chloride concentra-
tions caused by the dilution eect of water used for rainfall
simulation. Initial chloride concentrations were 2584 and
2536 for the aereobic and anaerobic reactors, respectively.
These concentrations decreased to 1340 and 538 mg/L,
respectively, at the end of the study. Theoretical chloride
calculations also exhibited the same decreasing trend in
time.
The change in alkali metals (Na, K, Ca, Mg) in the aer-
obic and anaerobic reactors was also observed. Both
sodium and potassium concentrations of the reactors
showed the same behavior. Initial Na concentrations of
the aerobic and anaerobic reactors were 1344 and
1548 mg/L, respectively. At the end, Na concentrations
decreased to 879 mg/L in the aerobic reactor and
1050 mg/L in the anaerobic reactor. K concentrations of
aerobic and anaerobic reactors declined from 1532 to
1305 mg/L and from 1354 to 441 mg/L, respectively. Sig-
nicant precipitation for Na and K has not been observed
and they do not participate in any considerable way in
complexation reactions and they exist in only one oxida-
tion state (+1) in the landll systems (Pohland et al.,
1993) and thus, their behavior was expected to be that of
a conservative tracer throughout the study. Both sodium
and potassium showed evidence of dilution eects that
was conrmed by chloride concentrations in the reactors.
On the other hand, Ca and Mg concentrations of the reac-
tors indicated variability because they are only slightly
more chemically complicated than Na and K, with the pri-
mary dierence being that both have available and poten-
tial precipitants. In the case of calcium, the potential
precipitant is carbonate (CaCO3) while magnesium is sub-
ject to precipitation as the hydroxide (Mg(OH)2). Ca con-
centrations were measured as 66 mg/L for the aerobic
reactor and 3190 mg/L for the anaerobic reactor, at the
beginning of study. Ca concentration of the aerobic reactor
increased slightly and stayed constant during the experi-
ment and then reached to 109 mg/L at the end. On the
other hand, the high initial Ca concentration of anaerobic
reactor decreased to 1069 mg/L on day 412. After the
establishment of methanogenic conditions and thus with
increase in pH values, Ca concentrations decreased rapidly
to 126 mg/L and stayed constant throughout experiment.
Initial Mg concentrations were 52 and 340 mg/L for aero-
bic and anaerobic reactors, respectively. In aerobic reactor,
like Ca concentrations, Mg increased to 143 mg/L and later
decreased to 56 mg/L at the end. In the anaerobic reactor it
declined to 28 mg/L.
There are numerous studies in which researchers have
reported metal concentrations from full-scale landlls, test
cells and laboratory studies under anaerobic conditions
(Yenigun et al., 1996; Flyhammar et al., 1998; Kruempel-
beck and Ehrig, 1999; Revans et al., 1999; Erses and Onay,
2003). The release of metal into leachate is generally low in
anaerobic landlls in spite of acidogenesis. This is because
metals tend to form hydroxides or undergo suldation in
the anaerobic phase and the majority of these compounds
are not readily soluble (Rich et al., 2007). Once aerobic
conditions are re-established in the nal aerobic phase met-
als are still immobile.
The conductivity of a leachate reects its total concen-
tration of ionic solutes and is a measure of the solutions
ability to convey an electric current. In both the reactors,
the change in leachate conductivity with time followed a
similar trend. Along with degradation, initial conductivity
values (11.78 mS/cm) in the aerobic reactor and
(16.39 mS/cm) in the anaerobic reactor increased to 16.71
and 23.70 mS/cm as their highest values respectively and
declined slowly to 8.28 and 9.28 mS/cm throughout the
experiment due to precipitation and the washout of easily
mobilized ions such as metals, chloride and sulfate because
of rainfall simulation and sampling. For aerobic reactor
theoretical dilution of conductivity highly agreed with
experimental observations. For the anaerobic reactor theo-
retical conductivity dilution gradient was smaller than that
of experimental, this is because of the mobilization of ions
under acidogenic conditions which was not considered in
theoretical computations.
3.2. The impact on bioreactor landll stabilization
Table 2 shows the characteristics of waste in the bioreac-
tors at the end of experiment. Settlement or subsidence of
MSW is a key parameter that distinguishes between aero-
bic and anaerobic bioreactor landlls. As it is shown in
Table 2, aerobic bioreactor technology enhances the rate
and extent of subsidence. Higher degree of settlement was
achieved in the aerobic bioreactor where settlement was
about 37% at 374 days. Anaerobic bioreactor exhibited set-
tlement about 5% after 630 days. Several previous studies
have measured subsidence. The Mountain View Landll
Project in California measured 1315% settlement with
leachate recirculation over a period of 4 years as compared
with 812% settlement in the control reactor (Buivid et al.,
Table 2
Waste characteristics from aerobic and anaerobic bioreactors
Anaerobic bioreactor Aerobic bioreactor
Settlement (%) 5 37
Volatile solids, VS (%) 47 38
Wet weight (kg) 15.73 15.31
Dry weight (kg) 5.66 5.19
 A.S. Erses et al. / Bioresource Technology 99 (2008) 54185426
1981). Stessel and Murphy demonstrated 1830% settling
for aerobic bioreactor in laboratory over a 65-day experi-
ment period. Settlement during actual landll operations
will impact the performance of the nal surface grade, sur-
face drainage, roads, gas collection piping system and
leachate and air distribution piping system. Settlement
impacts can be readily accommodated by the project
design. Since settlement in aerobic landlls will be largely
complete soon after landll closure, long-term maintenance
costs and the potential for fugitive emissions will be
avoided.
For comparison, the MSW was weighed as it was
removed from the reactors. The average weight of wet
waste in the anaerobic bioreactor was 15.73 kg, corre-
sponding to a dry weight of 5.66 kg, giving a 19% loss of
MSW. For the aerobic bioreactor, the average wet weight
was 15.31 kg, corresponding to a dry weight of 5.19 kg,
which is a 21% loss in MSW mass.
The amount of initial VS in the anaerobic and aerobic
bioreactors on dry weight basis were 82% and 84%, respec-
tively. Volatile solid was analyzed by loss on ignition at
550 C. Reduction of organic substance in the aerobic bio-
reactor was 46% while in the anaerobic bioreactor this was
35%. These values correlate well with waste weight and set-
tlement observations.
4. Conclusions
It may not prove surprising that waste can rapidly
decompose in aerobic conditions. It could be also antici-
pated that methane concentrations decreased as a result
of air addition. However, in addition to these common
consequences, the results of this study, which could possi-
bly occur in large scale landll, may be helpful for landll
operators and engineers when choosing aerobic and anaer-
obic systems.
Based upon the experimental results obtained during the
experimental study, the following conclusions are
provided:
 The anaerobic bioreactor landll shows the highest lev-
els of all pollutional parameters, with high concentra-
tions of COD, TOC, BOD, ammonia, phosphorus and
alkali metals in the leachate.
 Aeration of the waste mass produces a rapid oxidation
of organics and nitrogen when compared to the anaero-
bic bioreactor landll. More than 90% of COD was
decomposed within 70 days in the aerobic bioreactor
compared to 462 days in the anaerobic bioreactor.
 While ammonia concentrations were increasing through-
out the methanogenic phase of the anaerobic bioreactor,
their concentrations in the aerobic reactor decreased
rapidly. Ammonia concentrations in aerobic reactor
decreased to 5 mg/L at the end of experiments, their con-
centrations in anaerobic reactor reached to about
600 mg/L.
5425
 Concentrations of Ca and Mg in the anaerobic reactor
were signicantly greater than those of the aerobic
reactor.
 The waste settlement in the aerobic reactors occurred
faster than the waste settlement in the anaerobic reac-
tors. Higher degree of settlement was achieved in the
aerobic bioreactor where settlement was about 37% at
374 days. Anaerobic bioreactor exhibited settlement
about 5% after 630 days.
 Comparing the anaerobic and aerobic reactors, the aer-
obic reactor was more eective in terms of COD reduc-
tion and waste stabilization. While aerobic reactor was
completed within 374 days, anaerobic reactor was oper-
ated for 630 days.
Overall, the results of this study showed that aeration in
municipal solid waste landlls is a viable management
option for the accelerated stabilization of a waste matrix.
These results can be used to compare aerobic and anaero-
bic landlls for life-cycle assessment. Aerobic landlls are
expected to reduce the cost for monitoring and leachate
treatment due to rapid waste decomposition and low
organic carbon. Further studies should be extended to
investigate aeration rates and enhancement of solid waste
stabilization to render practical solutions in sustainable
landll management.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the nancial support provided
by Bogazici University Research Fund by Research Project
No. 04 Y102.
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