Landfill Leachate

Best management practices can be used to reduce the volume of leachate produced from a landfill and also to reduce the toxicity of the leachate. These steps will reduce the risk to the environment, however, even with best practices, landfill leachate requires treatment.

There are a host of treatment technologies that can be used to treat leachate, however each has its limitations. The conventional treatment process uses several treatment technologies in series to accomplish the desired end result: clean water for discharge.

Typical technologies include the following:

Technology	Targeted to Remove	Problems
Flocculation	Suspended Solids	Selective removal
Sedimentation/Clarifier	Suspended Solids	Long residence time
Media Filter (Sand, etc)	Suspended Solids	Media Replacement Cost
Chemical Treatment	Heavy Metals	High Operating Cost
Ion Exchange	Heavy Metals	Poor Selectivity
Oxidation	Bacteria, Cyanide, Organics	High Operating Cost
Air Stripping	Ammonia and VOCs	Air Emissions Permit
Biological Treatment	Organic Pollutants	Footprint is large
Aerated Lagoons	BOD	Partial Solution

Many landfills currently employ one or two of the above technologies for temporary or partial solutions, while others use a combination of several technologies to achieve acceptable levels of ammonia, COD, BOD, and heavy metals.

Historically, fouling and difficult operation have limited the use of RO membranes in landfill operations. In contrast, New Logic’s VSEP RO membrane system unlocks the potential of RO membranes for treatment of leachate through the power of vibratory enhanced separation. As the only technology able to separate all of the pollutants found in landfill leachate in a single step, VSEP RO has been successfully deployed at landfills around the world. Although you can find other membrane systems at landfills, these require elaborate pre-treatment and are truly multi-step processes requiring significant operator attention.

As any landfill operator knows, each landfill is unique, with unique cell characteristics and unique requirements for environmental compliance. That’s why New Logic’s custom approach is essential to designing a cost-effective VSEP treatment solution to fit your project’s requirements.

For a typical landfill leachate process flow diagram with mass balance, please click here.