Landfill leachate is a complex wastewater with considerable variation in both quality and quantity. The composition and concentration of pollutants are influenced by the types of waste deposited, hydrogeological factors, and more significantly by the age of the landfill site. Conventional biological treatments have been ineffective for leachate from relatively old landfill site. In leachate containing high concentrations of organic and nitrogen compounds such cases result in possible serious environmental problems near the landfill site. This research was undertaken to investigate the performance of membrane bioreactor (MBR) using mixed thermophilic bacterial culture in treating raw leachate containing high organic and nitrogen concentrations. Three separate sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) maintained at ambient, 40oC and 50oC were also operated in parallel to evaluate the comparative performance at different temperature conditions. The sludge characteristics in terms of EPS and its components, CST and SVI were measured. Biochemical kinetics using bioreactor setup was determined for the estimation of biokinetic coefficients at different temperatures.

Mukesh Kumar Choudhary has earned two Masters' degree in Environmental Engineering - Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand and University of Central Florida, USA. He is a Licensed Professional Engineer with 9 years of consulting experience in water and wastewater engineering in the USA.