Tejera Tejo, JavierHermosilla Redondo, María DaphneGascó, AntonioMiranda Carreño, RubénAlonso, VíctorNegro Álvarez, Carlos ManuelBlanco Suárez, María Ángeles2023-06-172023-06-1720211876-107010.1016/j.jtice.2021.02.018https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/6749CRUE-CSIC (Acuerdos Transformativos 2021)The main objective of this study is to optimize a two-step treatment for mature landfill leachate consisting of electrocoagulation (EC) followed by Fenton or UVA-LED photo-Fenton processes aiming to provide a more efficient and feasible alternative treatment strategy that also increases biodegradability and decreases conductivity. Although 5 mA cm−2 EC is cheaper than 10 mA cm−2 EC per kg of removed COD (0.63 vs. 0.89 € kgCOD−1), it achieved the half total COD removal (13% compared to 26%), and the low residual iron concentration (100 mg L−1) that remained at the end of the process made necessary a long treatment time to perform the posterior Fenton (48 h) or UVA-LED photo-Fenton (6 h) process. When EC was performed at 10 mA cm−2, the residual iron concentration (220 mg L−1) was high enough to reduce treatment time by one half for both Fenton processes. Consequently, treatment cost decreases from 5.91 to 3.48 € kgCOD−1 for the EC + UVA-LED photo-Fenton ([H2O2]/COD = 1.063) treatment combination; whereas it slightly decreases from 1.68 to 1.61 € kgCOD−1 for the alternative EC + conventional Fenton combination. In both cases, total COD removal was around 87%. In addition, SUVA removal was >40%, conductivity was reduced about 20–30%, and biodegradability (BOD5/COD) increased over 0.3.engAtribución 3.0 Españahttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/journal articlehttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtice.2021.02.018open access66.0Biodegradability enhancementElectrocoagulation Fenton treatmentUVA-LED photo-Fenton treatmentMature landfill leachateIndustria del papelIngeniería químicaQuímica industrial3312.13 Tecnología de la Madera3303 Ingeniería y Tecnología Químicas