Effective anaerobic biodegradation of municipal solid waste fresh leachate using a novel pilot-scale reactor: Comparison under different seeding granular sludge

A novel integrated internal and external circulation (IIEC) reactor was developed for anaerobic biodegradation of municipal solid waste (MSW) fresh leachate with chemical oxygen demand (COD) between 40,000 and 60,000 mg/l. The pilot-scale IIEC reactor was inoculated with two kinds of granular sludge from paper mill (SPM) and from citric acid factory (SCF), respectively. The bio-treating capacity in contaminant removal and biogas production performed much superior to others’ results, principally attributed to appropriate configuration modification. Compared to SCF, much higher organic loading rate (40.5 vs 23.0 kg COD/m3 d) and COD removal efficiency (>80% vs 60–75%) were achieved for the reactor with SPM. For methane production, 11.77 or ∼6 m3STP/m3 d of rate and 66–85% of content were observed with SPM or SCF, respectively. Due to better sludge concentrations and methanogenic activity, these findings indicate the anaerobic reactor could effectively bio-treat MSW leachate for methane generation, especially inoculated with granular sludge derived from leachate-like-wastewater.