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Treatment of landfill waste, leachate and landfill gas: A review

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Abstract

This review aims at the treatment of the entire landfill, including the waste mass and the harmful emissions: leachate and landfill gas. Different landfill treatments (aerobic, anaerobic and semi-aerobic bioreactor landfills, dry-tomb landfills), leachate treatments (anaerobic and aerobic treatments, anammox, adsorption, chemical oxidation, coagulation/flocculation and membrane processes) and landfill gas treatments (flaring, adsorption, absorption, permeation and cryogenic treatments) are reviewed. Available information and the gaps present in current knowledge is summarized. The most significant areas to expand are landfill waste treatments, which in recent years has begun to grow but there is an opportunity for much more. Another area to explore is the treatment of landfill gas, a very large field to which not much effort has been put forth. This review is to compare different treatment methods and give direction to future research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 5B9, Canada

    Hecham Omar & Sohrab Rohani

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  1. Hecham Omar
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  2. Sohrab Rohani
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Correspondence to Sohrab Rohani.

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Sohrab Rohani, Ph.D., P. Eng., F.C.I.C.

Dr. Rohani is a professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Department at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Wales in Process Control. He spent two years at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich before joining the Chemical Engineering Department of the University of Saskatchewan in 1982. In 1999, he moved to the University of Western Ontario, where he served as the Chair of the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering. He is the recipient of a number of awards including the Engineering Medal in Research and Development from the Professional Engineers, Ontario, and the Western Faculty of Engineering Award for Excellence in Research.

Dr. Rohani has over 400 refereed publications. He is a registered professional engineer in Ontario and a Fellow of Chemical Institute of Canada (FCIC). His main areas of research are in the development and control of active pharmaceutical ingredients, zeolitic nanomaterials, TiO2 nanophotocatalysts, and environmental research.

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Omar, H., Rohani, S. Treatment of landfill waste, leachate and landfill gas: A review. Front. Chem. Sci. Eng. 9, 15–32 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-015-1501-y

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