Effective and mechanistic insights into reverse osmosis concentrate of landfill leachate treatment using coagulation-catalytic ozonation-bioaugmentation-based AnMBR

Landfill leachate membrane concentrates containing high concentrations of organics pose a major threat to the environment, and efficient treatment methods are urgent issue. In this study, a coagulation-catalytic ozonation-bioaugmentation-based anaerobic membrane bioreactor (CCOB-AnMBR) process was applied to treat reverse osmosis concentrate (ROC) of landfill leachate. Compared with polyaluminum ferric chloride (PAFC) and prefrontal cortex (PFC), coagulation using polyferric sulfate (PFS) effectively removed refractory contaminants including macro molecular organics (MMOs), benzene ring compounds (BRCs), humic acid (HA), and fulvic acid (FvA) in ROC of landfill leachate, with average 78.3%, 53.5%, 34.7% and 34.3%, respectively. Catalytic ozonation with MnOx-CeOx-Al2O3 increased the biodegradability index by degrading refractory organic compounds, which facilitated subsequent biological treatment of ROC. The oxidation of mostly occurs at the solid–liquid interface and the presence of MnOx-CeOx-Al2O3 nanocatalyst enhanced ozone decay and increased generation of hydroxyl radical (•OH) and singlet oxygen (1O2) in ROC. In addition, bioaugmentation using recombinant genetically engineered Desulfovibrio vulgaris expressing Sat and dsrAB (rGEDEV-sds) promoted metabolism of sulfate by driving transfer sulfate from the environment into the cell and sulfate dissimilation reduction process. Bioaugmentation-based AnMBR (Bio-AnMBR) caused complete degradation of the total organic carbon (TOC), enhanced degradation of leachate pollutions, and decreased the concentration of sulfate in ROC. The macro molecular organics, refractory organic contaminants, the residual coagulation-resistant substances (CRS), and heavy metal were effectively degraded in the Bio-AnMBR system. Furthermore, CCOB-AnMBR exhibits high processing efficiency in the degradation of the contaminants in ROC of landfill leachate. Overall, this excellent performance proves the feasibility and elucidates the mechanism of CCOB-AnMBR process for the removal of contaminants in ROC of landfill leachate.