Effect of pretreated zeolite media in removal of landfill leachate pollutants

Abstract

Leachate pollutant in the form of amnonical nitrogen (NH4-N) and chemical oxygen demands (COD) is becoming more important to avoid problems to aquatic as well as human life. This study investigates the removal of such pollutants using Zeolite as adsorbents utilizing preconditioning method at different condition. The different technologies like air stripping, membrane filtration, chemical precipitation, electrolytic treatment and reverse osmosis are used but are expensive to build, operate and also maintain the system. The physio-chemical treatment or ion exchange/ adsorption is preferred because of its stability, simplicity and easy maintenance. The batch experiments were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of heat treated Zeolite. The equilibrium adsorption data was studied using Freundlich isotherm for the removal of Iron (Fe3+), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), and Ammonical Nitrogen (NH4-N). The overall removal capacity of the heat treated Zeolite media for Iron, COD and NH4-N was 78.9%, 39.5% and 48.4% respectively. Heat treated Zeolite had 10 times greater capacity in removing Fe3+ compared to natural Zeolite and 4 times for COD removal.