Decomposition characteristics of humic-like matters with the hollow ellipsoid structure sludge inoculated from decayed soil in mature landfill leachate

In this work, the microorganisms in decayed soil were found to be capable of decomposing the humic-like matters evidently using an anaerobic–aerobic/anoxic bioprocess in two sequencing bio-reactors. The 3D excitation–emission matrix and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) were applied to characterize the variation of dissolved organic matters in mature leachate while sludge morphology was characterized by scanning electron microscopy.

The intensities of fluorescence peaks A and C of leachate effluents were 71.66% and 48.75% lower than those of influents, respectively, which indicated the extraordinary degradation ability of microorganisms inoculated from the decayed soil. Meanwhile a kind of distinctive hollow ellipsoid structure sludge organized by tiny soil particles was observed, which might favour the humic-like matters' decomposition and has never been reported before as we know.