Landfill leachate treatment by the combination of physicochemical methods with adsorption process

Abstract

The pretreatment with lime, ammonia stripping, chemical coagulation and activated carbon adsorption were used respectively for Bursa region leachate in this study. It was used that the first alternative, pretreatment with lime+ammonia stripping+neutralization were operated. This alternative achieved 19% COD removal and performed the capital and annual operating costs of $175 m-3 and $5 m-3, respectively. In this study, the second alternative included chemical coagulation+ammonia stripping+granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption. This alternative flow scheme achieved to produce an effluent COD of 160 mg L-1, which complied with Turkish discharge standard for receiving media and capital&annual operating cost were estimated to be $383 m-3 and $18 m-3, respectively. Consequently, the second alternative was determined to be appropriate according to discharge standard. But, it’s capital and operating costs are very high for discharge to surface water. The following pretreatment with lime, co-treatment with municipial waste water is appropriate for lower treatment costs. Recommended this solution shows suitable results about treatment ammonia and heavy metals. Furthermore this solution can help that the developing countries adopt landfill leachate treatment.