The use of the dynamic respiration index to predict the potential MSW-leachate impacts after short term mechanical biological treatment

The aim of this work was to evaluate the effects of short full scale MBT process (28 d) getting a biological stability of DRI < 1000 mg O2 kg VS−1 h−1, on the impact of leachate produced in simulated landfill. As consequence of that, waste was processed by full scale MBT and both untreated and treated waste were successively incubated in simulated landfills for 1 year. Leachates were collected at different incubation times and characterized. Results obtained indicated that MBT allowed waste-organic matter (OM) reduction favoring, also, optimal condition for successive OM degradation in the simulated landfill. results indicated a total reduction of leachate impact for the treated waste (DRI of 978 mg O2 kg VS−1 h−1) with respect to the untreated waste of: −54%, −69%, −77%, −70%, −81% and −16% for NTK, NH3, TOC, COD, BOD5 and total heavy metal contents, respectively.