Enhanced performance of the aerobic landfill reactor by augmentation of manganese peroxidase.

The aim of the work discussed in this article was to determine the ability of an MnP augmented aerobic waste cell to reach stable conditions rapidly in terms of gas production, nutrient content and cellulose and hemicellulose to lignin ratio (C+H/L). Two types of experiments were conducted; small batch and laboratory scale lysimeter experiments. Results from batch experiments showed that enzyme added treatments have the capability to reach a stable C+H/L and lower gas production rates, faster than the treatments without enzyme addition. Enzyme enhancement of the lysimeter increased the rate of biodegradability of the waste; gas production increased more than two times and there was clear evidence of increase in nutrients (nitrogen, dissolved carbon, biological oxygen demand) in the lysimeter ​leachate.

Waste degradation and gas production with enzymatic enhancement in anaerobic and aerobic landfill bioreactors.

The presence of lignin is the limiting factor at later stages of biodegradation of municipal solid waste under aerobic or anaerobic conditions. Supplying enzymes into the system could facilitate lignin degradation, thereby aiding anaerobic and aerobic waste degradation processes. A comprehensive set of laboratory experiments were conducted under both anaerobic and aerobic conditions to evaluate the feasibility of using enzymes in accelerating lignin-rich waste degradation. After 30 days of anaerobic operation, MnP and LiP enzyme treated reactors produced 36 and 23 times higher cumulative methane (CH4), respectively, compared to that of the control reactor devoid of enzyme treatments. The carbon dioxide (CO2) yield of MnP enhanced aerobic reactor showed more than two-fold increase.