Persulfate-enhanced continuous flow three-dimensional electrode dynamic reactor for treatment of landfill leachate

Compared with sequencing batch reactor, continuous flow dynamic reactors are more conducive to promotion and application. In this study, the ability of a three-dimensional (3D) electrode dynamic reactor to remove pollutants in the landfill leachate was investigated, in which landfill leachate entered through continuous flow. Either increased of current density or the decreased of flow rate was conducive to the removal of pollutants. The optimal process parameters for current density and flow rate were 16 mA cm−2 and 0.75 L h−1, respectively. When the current density was constant at 16 mA cm−2 and the flow rate was kept at 0.75 L h−1, 60.02% of total organic carbon (TOC), 96.50% of chroma, 64.98% of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and 99.46% of ammonia nitrogen (NH3–N) were removed. The characteristic peaks of refractory organic pollutants were reduced by 97.95%. After the reaction, the biological oxygen demand (BOD)/COD was increased from 0.24 to 0.32. As one of the emerging trace organics in landfill leachate, 85.90% of ibuprofen (IBU) was removed. The results showed that the 3D electrode dynamic reactor constructed in this study could reduce the TOC, refractory trace organic pollutant, NH3–N and chroma in the landfill leachate. The 3D electrode dynamic reactor constructed in this research has application potential in the field of landfill leachate treatment.