Investigation of landfill leachate treatability for reuse in agricultural purposes

Abstract

Leachates from landfills are one of the environmental challenges in developing countries, such as Iran that also will face water scarcity in the near future. Landfill leachate management to decrease the negative impact on water resources is indispensable. On the one hand, depending on the age of landfill, high ammonia concentration leachates could be a resource for use in agricultural purposes and on the other, treated leachate can be used as a valuable resource for agronomic irrigation. In order to investigate this hypothesis, landfill leachate was provided from the Sari municipal landfill in the north of Iran (COD = 7,045 mg/l; BOD5/COD = 0.36) and the performance of different combinations of biological, chemical and membrane processes were evaluated according to Iran’s Agricultural Water Standard (IAWS). The treatment processes consisted of sequencing batch reactor (SBR), Fenton’s process/SBR, and membrane/SBR/Fenton. Results indicated in addition to access IAWS, the treated leachate through Membrane/SBR/Fenton’s process could be used as a nitrogen source for agricultural purposes. The removal efficiency of primary parameters, including COD, BOD5, turbidity, and color were 89%, 96%, 99% and 98%, respectively.