Biodegradation Kinetics of Tobacco-waste Leachate by Activated Sludge in a Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR)

Treatment of wastes and leachate evolved in landfills is today an imperative due to rigorous environmental protection legislation. In this work, biodegradation of the organic fraction in tobacco waste leachate was studied. Experiments were carried out in a sequencing batch reactor at initial concentrations of activated sludge of 3.03 and 5.95 g L–1 and different initial concentrations of organic matter in leachate, expressed as COD concentrations, ranging from 0.5 to 3.0 g L–1. The results of the experiments showed that activated sludge possessed a strong ability to degrade organic matter in leachate. Efficiency of the biodegradation process was approximately 82.6 %. A simple Monod equation was selected to describe the kinetics of leachate biodegradation. The kinetic parameters Y, kd, max and Ks during experiments E1 and E2 were found to be 0.25 g g –1, 0.005 d–1, 0.39 d–1 and 5.45 g L–1, and 0.23 g g–1, 0.003 d–1, 0.44 d–1 and 5.63 g L–1, respectively.