Advanced Oxidative Processes as Treatment for Landfill Leachate

Sanitary landfill leachate is an effluent characterized by great heterogeneity in its composition and may contain the most diverse types of organic and inorganic pollutants. Therefore, leachate needs efficient treatment before being released into the environment. Sanitary landfill leachate represents a high environmental risk and may result in the contamination of groundwater and/or surface water and the eutrophication of water bodies, if disposed of improperly, that is, without treatment. A study carried out at a simple landfill in southeastern China detected more than 50 types of highly hazardous pollutants, while a similar study carried out in southern Brazil detected more than 70 polluting compounds. With the development of technology, several treatment techniques have emerged with the aim of improving treatment efficiency and adapting the leachate to standard release regulations for later disposal. Knowing that the polluting compounds present in the leachate are recalcitrant and that advanced oxidative processes are a set of highly recommended procedures for chemical treatment aimed at degrading pollutants in water and effluents via oxidation through radical reactions, this chapter concentrates information on the application of advanced oxidative processes used as a treatment option for leachate.