Potential of natural clay derived functionalized adsorbent for the effective remediation of sanitary landfill leachate

The management of landfill leachates, complex refractory wastewater which contains a host of organic pollutants, ammonia and degradation by-products, is a unique environmental challenge to the natural ecosystems. In this study, the preparation of a low-cost adsorbent from natural clay was implemented as a pre-treatment option for the adsorptive removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonical-nitrogen from the semi-aerobic sanitary landfill leachate. The microstructure and surface chemistry were examined by porosity measurement, scanning electron microscopy and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Results manifested that the adsorptive removal of COD and ammonical-nitrogen was denoted at 71.93% and 68.94%, respectively, with a maximum monolayer adsorption capacity for COD and ammonical-nitrogen of 89.18 and 151.61 mg/g, respectively. The findings provided concrete evidence to support the potential of natural clay derived adsorbent as a prerequisite step on a large scale, for the innovative purification of highly contaminated landfill leachate.