Recent Advances in Understanding
the Role of Wastewater Treatment
Processes for the Removal of Plastic
Derived Nitrogen Compounds
in Municipal Landfill Leachate
Kandasamy Ramani, Maseed Uddin, Krishnan Venkatesan Swathi,
Rajasekaran Muneeswari, and Mohan Thanmaya
Abstract This chapter discusses the various wastewater treatment processes for the
removal of nitrogen emissions from the plastic compounds present in municipal
landfill leachate. The chapter briefs on the types of plastics and the means of plastic
degradation that result in the emission of nitrogen into the waste stream and also
describe the major state of the art of some of the most common biological processes
such as Partial nitrification process, Anaerobic ammonia oxidation (ANAMMOX),
Completely autotrophic nitrogen removal over nitrite (CANON), NO
x
process and
Oxygen-limited nitrification and denitrification (OLAND) process were discussed.
In addition, conventional physicochemical methods such as break-point chlorination,
ion exchange, membrane processes, precipitation and stripping are also summarized.
Also, this chapter reviewed on the future challenges and perceptions on the mitigation
of the nitrogen contamination by using advanced sustainable and eco-friendly plastic
resources.
Keywords Municipal landfill leachate · Types of plastics · Plastics degradation ·
Plastic derived nitrogen compounds · Nitrogen emission · Biological processes
1 Introduction
Plastics transformed medicine with life-saving equipment, lightened cars and jets,
made space exploration a reality and saved millions of lives with helmets, incuba-
tors, and devices for clean drinking water. The amenities plastics paved the way to a
throw-away mentality that exposes the dark side of this material. Today, single-use
plastics account for 40% of the plastic produced every year [1]. Plastic pollution is
one of the most persistent environmental problems, as swiftly growing manufacture
K. Ramani (B ) · M. Uddin · K. V. Swathi · R. Muneeswari · M. Thanmaya
Biomolecules and Biocatalysis Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology, School of
Bioengineering, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur-603203, Chengalpattu
District, Tamil Nadu, India
e-mail: ramanik@srmist.edu.in
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
G. Benckiser (ed.), Soil and Recycling Management in the Anthropocene Era,
Environmental Science and Engineering,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51886-8_1
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