Investigation of organic, inorganic and synthetic adsorbents for the pretreatment of landfill leachate

An investigation into the use of organic, inorganic and synthetic adsorbents for the pretreatment of landfill leachate, generated by the City of Ottawa Trail Road Landfill, was carried out. The purpose of this project was to reduce the concentration of contaminants in order to meet the local Sewer Use By-Laws, prior to transporting the leachate from the generating site to the local municipal sewage treatment plant, and thereby reducing the disposal fees. Peat moss, compost, clinoptilolite, basalt and two types of activated carbon (DSR-A and F400) were investigated to determine the adsorption capacity for contaminants from leachate. Kinetic studies were also performed. The results based on batch adsorption isotherms show that Peat moss has the highest adsorption capacity for boron (B) and barium (Ba), compared with the other adsorbents. Also peat moss has good removals of Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN), Total Organic Carbon (TOC), and benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX), but these are lower than the removals obtained with activated carbon. Because of its relatively low cost and higher adsorption of B and Ba, peat moss was selected as the filter media for the column studies. The treated leachate was tested for B, Ba, TKN, carbonaceous biological oxygen demand (CBOD5) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S). The breakthrough curves for B and Ba showed the effectiveness of peat moss in removing these contaminants.