Innovative and sustainable landfill waste management using the anammox reaction

Landfill leachate is an enormous problem in the UK with major environmental consequences for pollution, eutrophication and climate change. The aim of this PhD project is to provide a novel solution to ammonium removal from the landfill leachate through the microbially driven anammox (anaerobic ammonium oxidation) reaction. Anammox is a very important step in the global nitrogen cycle and carried out by an unusual and fascinating group of microorganisms of the phylum Planctomycetes. Anammox was only discovered 20 years ago, but has been used successfully for large-scale wastewater treatment. This studentship will pioneer a novel application of the anammox technology in landfill leachate treatment and reveal important insights into microbiology and nitrogen fluxes in constructed wetlands.