Application of bioreactor landfill technology to municipal solid waste management: Asian perspective

In recent years, up-to-date knowledge on landfill behavior and decomposition processes of municipal solid wastes has lead to an increasing trend of upgrading existing landfill from a storage/containment concept to a process-based approach, in other words, bioreactor landfill. Landfills, operating as bioreactors for enhancing the stabilization of waste, are one such options that has been investigated and already in practice in the U.S and European countries. Compared to many developed countries, the concept of leachate recirculation is still relatively new to Asia. However, there are laboratory-scale and pilotscale researches and a few full-scale implementation of this technology in Asia. Research and development activities on landfill bioreactor are keeping the interest of scientists and engineers alive and enriching literatures. Findings of bioreactor landfill research have resulted in generation of enormous data and their publication in various journals and books. Collating data from diverse sources would help to understand the bioreactor landfill concept, benefits derived, design and operational issues, possible solutions to many related issues, ongoing researches, etc. This paper presents an overview of bioreactor landfill from an Asian perspective.