Treatment of Landfill leachate using fungi: An efficient and cost-effective strategy

Abstract

Landfill leachate contains hazardous xenobiotic organic compounds and heavy metals which have emerged as a major threat to receiving waterbodies and human health even at trace levels. In the absence of proper treatment and safe disposal, leachate is a source of water contamination. Commonly, various types of physicochemical treatment methods are used to treat leachate. However, they have the limitations of being expensive and less versatile compared to the biological treatment methods. Fungi have considerable application in wastewater treatment due to production of powerful oxidative and non-specific extracellular enzymes, peroxidases, and laccases. This article reviews the application of fungi in leachate treatment as a sustainable technology and discusses the mechanism involved in degradation and detoxification.