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The use of alum, ferric chloride and ferrous sulphate as coagulants in removing suspended solids, colour and COD from semi-aerobic landfill leachate at controlled pH

School of Civil Engineering, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia, cehamidi{at}eng.usm.my

Salina Alias

School of Civil Engineering, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia

Faridah Assari

School of Civil Engineering, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia

Mohd Nordin Adlan

School of Civil Engineering, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia

Suspended solids, colour and chemical oxygen demand (COD) are among the main pollutants in landfill leachate. Application of physical or biological processes alone is normally not sufficient to remove these constituents, especially for leachate with a lower biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)/ COD ratio. The main objective of this research was to investigate the efficiency of coagulation and flocculation processes for removing suspended solids, colour and COD from leachate produced in a semi-aerobic landfill in Penang, Malaysia. A 12-month characterization study of the leachate indicated that it had a mean annual BOD/COD ratio of 0.15 and was partially stabilized, with little further biological degradation likely to occur. Particle size analysis of the raw leachate indicated that its 50^th percentile (d₅₀) was 11.68 µm. Three types of coagulants were examined in bench scale jar test studies: aluminium sulphate (alum), ferric chloride (FeCl₃) and ferrous sulphate (FeSO₄). The effects of agitation speed, settling time, pH, coagulant dosages and temperature were examined. At 300 rpm of rapid mixing, 50 rpm of slow mixing, and 60 min settling time, higher removals of suspended solids (over 95%), colour (90%) and COD (43%) were achieved at pH 4 and 12. FeCl ₃ was found to be superior to other coagulants tested. At pH 4 and 12, fair removal of suspended solids was observed at a reasonably low coagulant dose, i.e., 600 mg L^—1; hHowever, about 2500 mg L^—1 of coagulant was required to achieve good removals at pH 6. Better removals were achieved at higher temperature. The d₅₀ of sludge after coagulation at pH 4 with a 2500 mg L ^—1 FeCl₃ dose was 60.16 µm, which indicated that the particles had been removed effectively from the leachate. The results indicate that coagulation and flocculation processes can be used effectively in integrated semi-aerobic leachate treatment systems, especially for removing suspended solids, colour and COD.

Key Words: Leachate • semi-aerobic landfill • coagulation and flocculation • alum • ferric chloride • ferrous sulphate • wmr 999—2

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