Abstract:
Anaerobic treatment methods are usually suitable for landfill-leachate. However,
most of the anaerobic methods are quite expensive due to the high cost of artificial
filtration media. Hence the aim of this study was to investigate the performances of
several low-cost/waste materials as filtration media in anaerobic filters to treat
landfill-leachate. The experimental set-up consisted of four anaerobic filter
columns, two of which were controls while the other two were experimental
columns. One control column was filled with granular activated carbon (GAC) and
the other with plastic pall rings (PPR). One experimental column was filled with a
mixture of dewatered alum sludge (DAS), sea sand (SS) and firewood charcoal (FC),
while the other column with the same materials as layers. Throughout the
experimental run of applying 10% landfill-leachate continuously as influent, the
removal efficiencies of COD (76%), BOD5, TN (63%) and NH3-N (54 %) of the layered
low-cost filtration materials were higher than those of the mixed filtration
materials. The BOD5 removal efficiency rapidly increased up to 80% and remained
constant. The average TP removal efficiency of the layered media was 70%. The
average removal efficiencies of Pb, Cd and total dissolved solids (TDS) of the
experimental columns were 42%, 63% and 55%, respectively. Overall, the removal
efficiencies of the measured contaminants in the experimental columns were higher
than those of the PPR column and lower than those of the GAC column. The results
prove that the low-cost materials can effectively be applied as filtration media.
