Abstract
Landfill leachate (LFL) is a polluted effluent generated during the decomposition of organic wastes. Because it is rich in organic matter and nutrients, LFL can be used as an agricultural fertilizer, especially in arid and semiarid areas. In this context, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of LFL on the chemical properties of soil when LFL is used as a soil fertilizer. Leachate samples were collected from the Sfax landfill site in Tunisia, which has an area of 35 ha and receives 500 tons per day of solid wastes. Sandy soil was taken from an agricultural region of Sfax. Different treatments based on doses of 50, 80, and 100 m3/ha of raw and Fenton-treated leachate were added to the soil. The results showed that leachate amendment modified the chemical properties of the soil, which in turn depended on the concentration of the raw or treated LFL applied. The electrical conductivity of the soil increased significantly upon leachate addition, reaching values > 2 mS/cm. A decrease in the soil pH and an enrichment of the soil with nutrients were also observed. The organic matter content of the soil increased by 0.3% and 0.24%, respectively, following treatment of the soil with 100 m3 of raw and/or treated leachate. A dose of 50 m3/ha of raw leachate increased the level of potassium by 0.2 mg/g. The soil nitrogen level increased from 0.07% in control soil to 0.15% in soil treated with 100 m3/ha of raw leachate. These results indicate that treatment with leachate improves soil fertility but can cause salinization if too much leachate is applied.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alvarez-Bernal D, Contreras-Ramos SM, Trujillo-Tapia N et al (2006) Effects of tanneries wastewater on chemical and biological soil characteristics. Appl Soil Ecol 33:269–277. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2005.10.007
Amor C, Torres-Socías ED, Peres JA et al (2015) Mature landfill leachate treatment by coagulation/flocculation combined with Fenton and solar photo-Fenton processes. J Hazard Mater 286:261–268. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2014.12.036
Aronsson P, Dahlin T, Dimitriou I (2010) Treatment of landfill leachate by irrigation of willow coppice? Plant response and treatment efficiency. Environ Pollut 158:795–804. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2009.10.003
Bame IB, Hughes JC, Titshall LW, Buckley CA (2013) Leachate characteristics as influenced by application of anaerobic baffled reactor effluent to three soils: a soil column study. Chemosphere 93:2171–2179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2013.07.080
Barbera AC, Maucieri C, Cavallaro V et al (2013) Effects of spreading olive mill wastewater on soil properties and crops, a review. Agric Water Manag 119:43–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2012.12.009
Carreira JA, Viñegla B, Lajtha K (2006) Secondary CaCO3 and precipitation of P-Ca compounds control the retention of soil P in arid ecosystems. J Arid Environ 64:460–473. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2005.06.003
Chaari L, Elloumi N, Gargouri K et al (2014) Evolution of several soil properties following amendment with olive mill wastewater. Desalin Water Treat 52:2180–2186. https://doi.org/10.1080/19443994.2013.821030
Chaari L, Elloumi N, Mseddi S et al (2015) Changes in soil macronutrients after a long-term application of olive mill wastewater. J Agric Chem Environ 04:1–13. https://doi.org/10.4236/jacen.2015.41001
Cheng CY, Chu LM (2007) Phytotoxicity data safeguard the performance of the recipient plants in leachate irrigation. Environ Pollut 145:195–202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2006.03.020
Cheng CY, Tsang CK, Wong RSK, Chu LM (2011) Is landfill leachate a potential source of nitrogen for plant growth? In: Xuan L (ed) 2011 International Conference on Environment and Industrial Innovation. IPCBEE vol 12. IACSIT, Singapore, pp 286–297
Drechsel P, Evans AEV (2010) Wastewater use in irrigated agriculture. Irrig Drain Syst 24:1–3. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10795-010-9095-5
Echchelh A, Hess T, Sakrabani R (2020) Agro-environmental sustainability and financial cost of reusing gasfield-produced water for agricultural irrigation. Agric Water Manag 227:105860. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2019.105860
El Moussaoui T, Wahbi S, Mandi L et al (2019) Reuse study of sustainable wastewater in agroforestry domain of Marrakesh City. J Saudi Soc Agric Sci 18:288–293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jssas.2017.08.004
Gargouri K, Masmoudi M, Rhouma A (2014) Influence of olive mill wastewater (OMW) spread on carbon and nitrogen dynamics and biology of an arid sandy soil. Commun Soil Sci Plant Anal 45:1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/00103624.2013.849727
Ghanbari F, Moradi M, Manshouri M (2014) Textile wastewater decolorization by zero valent iron activated peroxymonosulfate: compared with zero valent copper. J Environ Chem Eng 2:1846–1851. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2014.08.003
Girard M.-C, Walter C, Rémy J.-C, Berthelin J et Morel J.-L (2005) Sols et environnement. DUNOD, Paris
Göde JN, Hoefling Souza D, Trevisan V, Skoronski E (2019) Application of the Fenton and Fenton-like processes in the landfill leachate tertiary treatment. J Environ Chem Eng 7:103352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2019.103352
Haj-Amor Z, Hashemi H, Bouri S (2018) The consequences of saline irrigation treatments on soil physicochemical characteristics. Euro-Mediterr J Environ Integr. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41207-018-0064-y
Halim AA, Aziz HA, Johari MAM, Ariffin KS (2010) Comparison study of ammonia and COD adsorption on zeolite, activated carbon and composite materials in landfill leachate treatment. Desalination 262:31–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2010.05.036
ISO (1994) 14:00-17:00 ISO 11265:1994. https://www.iso.org/cms/render/live/fr/sites/isoorg/contents/data/standard/01/92/19243.html. Accessed 27 Jun 2020
ISO (2005) 14:00-17:00 ISO 10390:2005. https://www.iso.org/cms/render/live/en/sites/isoorg/contents/data/standard/04/08/40879.html. Accessed 27 Jun 2020
Jeong H, Jang T, Seong C, Park S (2014) Assessing nitrogen fertilizer rates and split applications using the DSSAT model for rice irrigated with urban wastewater. Agric Water Manag 141:1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2014.04.009
Knetchel RJ (1978) A more economical method for the determination of chemical oxygen demand. Water Poll Control 71:29
Koull N, Halilat (2016) Effets de la matière organique sur les propriétés physiques et chimiques des sols sableux de la région d’Ouargla (Algérie). Rev Sci Gest Dir Gest 23:9–20
Leifeld V, dos Santos TPM, Zelinski DW, Igarashi-Mafra L (2018) Ferrous ions reused as catalysts in Fenton-like reactions for remediation of agro-food industrial wastewater. J Environ Manag 222:284–292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.05.087
Li G, Chen J, Yan W, Sang N (2016) A comparison of the toxicity of landfill leachate exposure at the seed soaking and germination stages on Zea mays L. (maize). J Environ Sci. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jes.2016.06.031
López-Morales CA, Rodríguez-Tapia L (2019) On the economic analysis of wastewater treatment and reuse for designing strategies for water sustainability: lessons from the Mexico Valley Basin. Resour Conserv Recycl 140:1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2018.09.001
Mekki A, Dhouib A, Sayadi S (2009) Evolution of several soil properties following amendment with olive mill wastewater. Prog Nat Sci 19:1515–1521. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnsc.2009.04.014
Morozesk M, Bonomo MM, Rocha LD et al (2016) Landfill leachate sludge use as soil additive prior and after electrocoagulation treatment: a cytological assessment using CHO-k1 cells. Chemosphere 158:66–71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2016.05.054
Mseddi S, Chaari L, Belaid C et al (2016) Valorization of treated olive mill wastewater in fertigation practice. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23:15792–15800. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4353-6
Singh SK, Tang WZ, Tachiev G (2013) Fenton treatment of landfill leachate under different COD loading factors. Waste Manag 33:2116–2122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2013.06.019
Singh S, Janardhana Raju N, RamaKrishna Ch (2017) Assessment of the effect of landfill leachate irrigation of different doses on wheat plant growth and harvest index: a laboratory simulation study. Environ Nanotechnol Monit Manag 8:150–156. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enmm.2017.07.005
Smaoui Y, Mlaik N, Bouzid J, Sayadi S (2017) Improvement of anaerobic digestion of landfill leachate by using coagulation-flocculation, Fenton’s oxidation and air stripping pretreatments. Environ Prog Sustain Energy. https://doi.org/10.1002/ep.12781
Wang Q, Sun J, Song K et al (2018) Combined zero valent iron and hydrogen peroxide conditioning significantly enhances the dewaterability of anaerobic digestate. J Environ Sci 67:378–386. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jes.2017.04.004
Watzinger A, Reichenauer TG, Gerzabek MH, Blum WEH (2006) Treatment of landfill leachate by irrigation and interaction with landfill gas. Environ Technol 27:447–457. https://doi.org/10.1080/09593332708618655
Wong MH, Leung CK (1989) Landfill leachate as irrigation water for tree and vegetable crops. Waste Manag Res 7:311–323
Zalesny JA, Zalesny RS, Wiese AH et al (2008) Sodium and chloride accumulation in leaf, woody, and root tissue of Populus after irrigation with landfill leachate. Environ Pollut 155:72–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2007.10.032
Zayen A, Schories G, Sayadi S (2016) Incorporation of an anaerobic digestion step in a multistage treatment system for sanitary landfill leachate. Waste Manag 53:32–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2016.04.030
Zupanc V, Justin MZ (2010) Changes in soil characteristics during landfill leachate irrigation of Populus deltoides. Waste Manag 30:2130–2136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2010.05.004
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
On behalf of all the authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Communicated by Mohamed Ksibi, Co-Editor in Chief.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Smaoui, Y., Chaari, L., Fersi, M. et al. Effects of raw and treated landfill leachate on the chemical properties of a Tunisian soil. Euro-Mediterr J Environ Integr 5, 50 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41207-020-00183-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41207-020-00183-x