Landfills leachates are known to contain recalcitrant and/or non-biodegradable organic substances and biological processes are not efficient in these cases. A promising alternative to complete oxidation of biorecalcitrant leachate is the use of ultrasonic process as pre-treatment to convert initially biorecalcitrant compounds to more readily biodegradable intermediates. The objectives of this study are to investigate the effect of ultrasonic process on biodegradability improvement. After the optimization by factorial design, the ultrasonic were applied in the treatment of raw leachates using a batch wise mode. For this, different scenarios were tested with regard to power intensities of 70 and 110 W, frequencies of 30, 45 and 60 KHz, reaction times of 30, 60, 90 and 120 minutes and pH of 3, 7 and 10. For determining the effects of catalysts on sonication efficiencies, 5 mg/l of TiO2 and ZnO have been also used. Results showed that when applied as relatively brief pre-treatment systems, the sonocatalysis processes induce several modifications of the matrix, which results in significant enhancement of its biodegradability. For this reason, the integrated chemical–biological systems proposed here represent a suitable solution for the treatment of landfill leachate samples.

-Landfill leachate is one of the most important sources of toxic organic compounds for ground and surface waters. Advanced oxidation processes can offer an effective and environmentally friendly method for pretreatment of landfill leachates. In this study, an ultrasonic process was used for the pre-treatment of landfill leachate with the objective of improving its overall biodegradability, evaluated in terms of the BOD 5 /COD ratio, up to a value compatible with biological treatment. Under optimized experimental conditions (pH of 10, power of 110 watts, frequency of 60 kHz, TiO 2 concentration of 5 mg/L and exposure time of 120 min), this method showed suitability for partial removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD). The biodegradability was significantly improved (BOD 5 /COD increased from 0.210 to 0.786) which allowed an almost total removal of COD by a sequential activated sludge process.