Ozonation Pretreatment for Reduction of Landfill Leachate Fouling on Membranes: A Response Surface Methodology Analysis

Batch ozonation was performed to assess its efficacy as a pretreatment for reverse osmosis (RO) membranes for treating leachate with high concentrations of recalcitrant organic compounds. Leachate samples from two different landfills were collected and characterized. The modified fouling index (MFI) was used to estimate the fouling potential of raw and ozonized leachates. A response surface experimental design was applied to optimize operational pH and ozone dose. The results demonstrate that the best operational conditions are 1.5 g/L of O(3)at pH 12.0 and 1.5 g/L of O(3)at pH 9.0 for Landfills 1 and 2, which reduce MFI by 96.22% and 94.08%, respectively. Additionally, they show toxicity factor decays of 98.44% for Landfill 1 and 93.75% for Landfill 2. These results, along with the similar behavior shown by leachate samples from distinct landfills, suggest that ozonation is a promising technology to fit this kind of wastewater into the requirements of RO membranes, enabling their use in such treatment.