Evaluation of Municipal Landfill Leachate Treatment by Microalgae

In recent years, municipal waste collection and treatment plants have introduced substantial innovations to minimize the related environmental impacts while producing energy and new materials as by-products. Municipal solid waste (MSW), indeed, is usually valorized in incinerators, landfills or anaerobic digestion plants for for final combined heat and power (CHP) production. In this perspective, the proposed research assesses the feasibility of microalgae bioremediation of leachate from a landfill in Italy. The composition of the leachate was recreated in laboratory and diluted in water and the microalgae culture growth was monitored inside a 5-litre bioreactor. The biochemical characterization of the lipids has been done according to literature. A numerical model is then developed in Aspen based on experimental data to assess the use of microalgae oil for biodiesel production. Eventually, a comparison with to the use of sunflower vegetable oil (SFO) is performed obtaining an increasing in OPEX due to the additional required hydrolysis step. The novelty of this study is the investigation in terms of process requirement for a plausible biodiesel production plant from leachate-harvested microalgae oil.