Identification and significance of sterols in MSW landfill leachate

The sterol content of leachate from two different landfills (labeled as landfill J and landfill R, respectively) at Wuhan, central China was examined by GC/MS. About 20 types of sterols were identified according to their mass spectra of TMS (trimethylsilyl derivates) ethers and their eluting orders. Three types of indices of sterols, namely the ratio of 5β/(5β + 5α) stanol, the ratio of coprostanol/epicoprostanol and the ratio of coprostanol/cholesterol, were used to assess and cross-validate sterol sources. The results showed that landfill R suffered faecal pollution while there are complex sterol sources in landfill J. The ratios of cholesterol/(chloesterol + cholestanol) were 0.24 in landfill R and 0.32 in landfill J, indicating cholesterol reduction in both landfills. C29 sterols consisted of 58% of total sterols in landfill J leachate. The sources for the landfill leachate included not only allochthonous domestic wastes, but biodegradation products of autochthonous wastes in the landfills.