ANAEROBIC DIGESTION OF LANDFILL LEACHATE WITH NATURAL ZEOLITE AND SUGARCANE BAGASSE FLY ASH AS THE MICROBIAL IMMOBILIZATION MEDIA IN PACKED BED REACTOR

Abstract

To enhance the digestion rate of a landfill leachate in the anaerobic packed bed reactor, a natural zeolite and sugarcane bagasse fly ash (BFA) were tested as the immobilization media. In order to scale up this process and systematically optimize the reactor performance, a kinetics model was needed. The suitability of the Contois and Haldane growth kinetic models were tested on the experiment data. It turned out that Contois gave the best fit for both acidogenic and methanogenic steps. A statistical analysis on Contois kinetic parameters using the Pearson correlation coefficient indicated that, in comparison with the BFA, the zeolite, as an immobilization media, showed more positive effects on the performance of the anaerobic digestion of a leachate.