Removal of Some Contaminants From Pre-Coagulated Semi-Aerobic Leachate Using Membrane Filter

Membrane filtration process for water treatment has been well established. However, its application on leachate effluent treatment after coagulation process is quite limited. The present paper investigated the suitability of the coagulation process on leachate effluent treatment generated from the Pulau Burung sanitary landfill site. Three types of membrane were used in this study, namely, nylon, resin and poly-propylene (PP). The pore sizes of membranes were 1µm and 5 µm. The effects of different filtration rates on leachate treatment were studied. The parameters studied were chemical oxygen demand (COD), colour, suspended solids (SS), and ammoniacal nitrogen (NH4N). Poly aluminium chloride was used as a coagulant in the coagulation and flocculation processes. Results indicate that PP membrane with pore size 1µm gave the best performance in reducing all the parameters, whereas the nylon membrane gave the poorest results. The filtration rate of 100mL/min exhibited the highest removal efficiency. PP membrane with pore size of 1µm at a filtration rate of 100mL/min is the most effective membrane to remove COD, colour, SS and NH4N.