TY - JOUR AU - Carlos Zafra-Mejía AU - Diego Romero-Torres PY - 2019/12/01 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Technology Trends of Leachate Treatment in Ibero-American Landfills JF - Revista Ingenierías Universidad de Medellín JA - rev.ing.univ.Medellin VL - 18 IS - 35 SE - Articles DO - 10.22395/rium.v18n35a8 UR - https://revistas.udem.edu.co/index.php/ingenierias/article/view/2417 AB - This paper identifies and analyses trends in approaches and technologies of leachate treatment used worldwide and implemented in Ibero-American landfills. A methodology of systematic literature research between 1990-2016 was used. A bibliographic citation frequency index was also used to establish an average order of importance using quartiles (Q) for the approaches and technologies detected in the databases consulted. The results allowed to identify six main treatment approaches in Ibero-America: Biological (49.5 %) > thermal (17.0 %) > natural (9.80 %) > physicochemical (9.60 %) > membranes (8.90 %) > recirculation (5.20 %). There is also a higher citation frequency of the biological approach in Ibero-America (49.5 %) compared to its worldwide citation frequency (34.1 %). The findings suggest the following order of importance for the main treatment technologies in Ibero-America: Combination with wastewater (Q3) > activated sludge (Q3) > aeration (Q4) > artificial wetlands (Q4) > recirculation (Q4). On average, activated sludge technology possibly exhibits lower variation and higher removal rates of BOD5, COD, and N-NH4 (BOD5: 54-98 %; COD: 44-90 %; N-NH4: 81-99 %) in relation with the technology of combination with wastewater (BOD5: < 5.0-93 %; COD: < 5.0-86 %; N-NH4: < 5.0-34 %). Geographical analysis suggests that the technologies of recirculation (13.5 %) and activated sludge (10.8 %) are most frequently reported in northern Ibero-America, while in southern Ibero-America the most frequently reported are technologies of artificial wetland (24.3 %) and combination with wastewater (16.2 %). In the last decade of study (2006-2016), treatment technologies using artificial wetlands and activated sludge were most often reported in Ibero-America (56.7 %). ER -