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The landfill process for disposal of domestic waste produces a large volume of contaminated aqueousleachate. This study was aimed at investigating the feasibility of using electrochemical peroxidation(ECP) for the treatment of this leachate. ECP is a process by which aqueous, or suspended organicmatter, is oxidised by the action of hydroxyl free radicals, produced using hydrogen peroxide and castiron or mild steel electrodes.The effectiveness of the ECP process was quantified by measuring reductions in leachate biologicaloxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) as a result of treatment. Optimisation ofthe process was carried out by varying electrode voltage, polarity switching rate, leachate pH andhydrogen peroxide concentration. This resulted in an observed BOD reduction of 36% and CODreduction of 52%, which was achieved by adjusting the pH to 4.0, applying an electrode voltage of 1.9Vand switching speed of 5 cycles per minute. The optimum hydrogen peroxide concentration was foundto be 100ppm. In addition to reductions in BOD and COD, reductions in chloride and ammonium levelswere measured and found to be 15% and 18% respectively. The results of the investigation indicate that the ECP process is effective in the treatment of landfillleachate, and suggest that with further optimisation, ECP may serve as an attractive alternative tocurrent biological leachate treatment methods.

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