Optimization Study Of A Leachate Treatment System

A treatability study was conducted to evaluate the need for a metal precipitation and an ammonia stripping process in a leachate treatment system and to evaluate the biological nitrification in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) for ammonia removal. The performance of SBRs treating the leachate which has been pre-treated with metal precipitation and ammonia stripping was compared to that of those without pre-treatment units. Four bench-scale SBRs were operated in parallel to study the effects of ammonia stripping and metal precipitation on process performance at various F/M ratios. Results showed that organics, ammonia and metals in leachate could be removed efficiently by the SBR. SBR treatment alone can achieve the level of organics and ammonia as good as that by ammonia stripping and SBR. Effluent metal concentrations from the SBR were also meeting the discharge standards, indicating that there is no need for a metal removal process in the full-scale treatment. The only parameter in leachate that cannot be removed by SBR was freon-extractable oil and grease (FOG).