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www.cafetinnova.org ISSN 0974-5904, Volume 09, No. 04 August 2016, P.P.1536-1539

Landfill Leachate Treatment by Coagulation and Flocculation

Process
MALATHI R1, S HOBA B1, SINDHUJA P 1 AND S VIMALA2
1
Department of Civil Engineering, Sri Ramakrishna Institute of Technology, Coimbatore-641010, India
2
Department of Civil Engineering, PSNA College of Engineering and Technology, Dindigul-624622, India
Email: malub18@gmail.com, shobadiwakar@gmail.com

Abstract: The leachate is a highly contaminant water hence it needs to be treated. The main aims of this
research were to determine the Chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration and heavy metals (zinc,
chromium, lead, cadmium and nickel) in leachate in landfill area. The pollutants were analyzed using
coagulation and flocculation process. The coagulants used were the aluminum sulphate (alum) and ferric
chloride. The jar test apparatus were employed for the removal of pollutants. The experiments were carried out
by varying the dosage of coagulants. The optimum pH level and the dosage level are also found as 8.5 and 3 g/l
for ferric chloride and for alum 10.5 and 1.5 g/l. The alum is found to be efficient in the removal of heavy
metals and ferric chloride for COD.
Keywords: Leachate, coagulation-flocculation, COD, Heavy metals, alum, ferric chloride

1. Introduction chemical, attached growth process, non-attached

One of the most important problems with designing
and maintaining a landfill is managing the leachate
which is generated when water passes through the
waste. The leachate consists of many different
organic and inorganic compounds that may be either
dissolved or suspended. Regardless of the nature of
the compounds, they pose a potential pollution
problem for local ground and surface waters. Leachate
is any liquid that passes through waste materials and
extracts solutes, suspended solids or any other
components. Leachate is a widely used term in the
environmental science where it has the specific
meaning of a liquid that has dissolved or entrained
environmentally harmful substances. It is most
commonly used in the context of land-filling of
putrescible or industrial waste.
The municipal landfill leachate has been one of the
major problems for environment because of its high
organic, inorganic and heavy metal content and
toxicity characteristics. Landfill leachate is a very
dark colored liquid formed primarily by the
percolation of precipitation through open landfill or
through the cap of the completed site. The
decomposition of organic matter such as humic acid
may cause the water to be yellow, brown or black.
The colour of the effluent indicates the age of the
landfill. If not treated and safely disposed, landfill
leachate could be a potential source of surface and
ground water contamination, as it may percolate
through the soils and subsoils, causing pollution to the
receiving water. Therefore leachate treatment is
required to remove contaminating components of the
leachate and bring it to standard whereby it can be
released to a sewer, a water course, land or tidal
water. Treatment processes for leachate are physio-
growth processes, and anaerobic/aerobic treatment.
The present study is carried out by coagulation and
flocculation process. Silva et.al [1] stated that the
Coagulation and flocculation is a simple technique for
treating landfill leachates. The experiment is carried
out by varying the dosages of coagulant and pH.
Afshin Maleki et.al [2] conducted the experimental
study and found that the Ferric chloride is more
effective than the other conventional coagulants. Lee
Mao Rui et.al [3], Shabiimmam M.A and Anil Kumar
Dikshit [4] are stated that the Comparative study is
usually carried out to determine the removal
efficiency of pollutants by different coagulants.
1.1 Characteristics of Leachate
The Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation owns a
landfill site at Vellalore, which is 15 km away from
the city and is spread over 600 acre and is the biggest
garbage dumping yard under the control of the
Coimbatore city corporation. Vellalore have for long
complained of foul smell and toxic fumes emanating
from the site. The leachate was collected from the site
in a 20 litre plastic container and transported to the
laboratory and stored in the refrigerator before being
analysed and tested.
Liquid waste and sludge disposal is the prime cause of
large quantity of leachate generation. The
characteristics of leachate generated reflect the nature
of liquid waste and sludges disposed in the landfill.
The chemical analysis of liquid waste shows that all
wastes have high-suspended solids and chemical
oxygen demand concentrations. The chemical
characteristics of leachate clearly indicate that it is
highly toxic and concentrated in nature and pause
high threat to aquatic environment. The characteristics

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 Landfill Leachate Treatment by Coagulation and Flocculation Process
of raw leachate collected from vellore at Coimbatore
corporation as shown in table1.
Table 1 Characteristics of Leachate
Parameter Value
pH 4.8
Total solids 52600mg/l
Total volatile solids 32800mg/l
Total fixed solids 19800mg/l
COD 60600mg/l
Zinc 1.8mg/l
Nickel 4.2mg/l
Lead 2.7mg/l
Cadmium 1.4mg/l
Chromium 2.1mg/l
1.2 Coagulation-Flocculation Process
Coagulation/flocculation is the process of binding
small particles in the water together into larger,
heavier clumps which settle out relatively quickly.
The larger particles are known as floc. Properly
formed floc will settle out of water quickly in the
sedimentation basin, removing the majority of the
water's turbidity. The main purpose of it is to
determine the optimum concentration of coagulant to
be added to the source water.
The various coagulants are Aluminum sulfate (Alum)
Al2(SO4)3 · 14 H2O ,Ferrous sulfate FeSO4 · 7
H2O,Ferric sulfate Fe2(SO4)3 · 9 H2O,Ferric chloride
FeCl3 · 6 H2O,Cationic polymer, Calcium hydroxide
(Lime) Ca(OH)2 , Calcium oxide (Quicklime) CaO,
Sodium aluminate Na2Al2O4, Bentonite
(Clay),Calcium carbonate CaCO3 , Sodium silicate
Na2SiO3, Anionic polymer, Nonionic polymer. The
present study is carried out using Aluminum sulfate
(Alum) and Ferric chloride.
Using Jar Test apparatus the physicochemical
treatment experiments were investigated. The effect
of alum on removing the COD and turbidity content
of the leachate is found by varying the dosage. The
experiment was carried out by varying the pH 2.5,
4.5, 6.5, 8.5, 10.5 and 12.5 the removal efficiency of
COD and heavy metals are observed. Similarly the
same procedure is applied for ferric chloride.
The experimental process consists of three stages such
as 1. fast mixing for a minute (120 rpm) 2.slow
mixing for 30 min. (20rpm) 3. Sedimentation for 1.5
hours was applied sequentially in chemical
coagulation, after that the supernatant was analyzed
for COD and turbidity according to Standard methods.
2. Results and Discussion
2.1 Determination of Optimum dosage of alum
The alum is used as the coagulant. The dosages are
varied as 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 g/l with the raw
leachate pH. The coagulation-flocculation process is
carried out. The supernatant obtained in the process is
taken as the sample for the COD experiment and the
International Journal of Earth Sciences and Engineering
ISSN 0974-5904, Vol. 09, No. 04, August, 2016, pp. 1536-1539
1537
removal efficiency is noted. The optimum value is not
obtained. Thus, the same process is repeated by
reducing the dosages of 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5 and 3g/l
where there is a constant increase in COD value and it
reaches a maximum value after which on further
increase in dosage leads to decrease in COD.
Figure 1 Jar Test Apparatus
The dosage for which the maximum COD value is
obtained is taken as optimum value. The optimum
dosage value is obtained due to the following reason.
The optimum coagulant dosage produced flocs have a
good structure and consistency. But in the lower dose
than optimum dose, the produced flocs are small and
influence the settling velocity of the sludge. In the
higher dosages than optimum dose, in addition to the
small size of the floc, restability of floc can be
happened. From the following table 2 of values we
can derive the optimum value.
Table 2: Determination of Optimum Alum
Dosage (g/l) COD (mg/l) Efficiency (%)
0.5 46480 23.3
1 45360 25.14
1.5 43680 27.9
2 44240 26.9
2.5 44520 26.5
3 45080 25.6
2.2 Effect of pH Values on Removal of COD and
Heavy Metals Using Alum
From the table 2, we can infer that 1.5 g/l dosage of
alum is found to be optimum. Having 1.5g/l as the
optimum dosage level, the pH of the leachate is
varied. The pH is varied as 2.5, 4.5, 6.5, 8.5, 10.5, and
12.5 and the coagulation process is carried out.
Optimum value of pH is determined from the removal
efficiency of COD and the heavy metals are detected
from the supernatant of the coagulation process. The
following results were shown in the table 3 and 4.
From the table 4, the removal efficiency is maximum
at pH 10.5, this is due to the formation of good sweep
floc. The optimum dosage of alum, 1.5 g/l is effective
when the solution is alkaline in nature, because the
 1538 MALATHI R, S HOBA B, S INDHUJA P AND S V IMALA

particles attract each other and it forms the stable floc. coagulant and by varying pH is plotted in the form of
For the comparative study, the removal efficiency of the figure 2.
COD values and heavy metals using alum as
Table 3: Determination of COD and heavy metals using optimum alum dosage 1.5 g/l
pH COD (mg/l) Zinc (mg/l) Nickel (mg/l) Lead (mg/l) Cadmium (mg/l) Chromium (mg/l)
2.5 55440 1.1 2.2 1.8 0.8 1.0
4.5 52920 0.9 2.0 1.2 0.7 0.9
6.5 40040 0.8 1.8 1.0 0.7 0.7
8.5 35000 0.4 1.1 0.8 0.6 0.4
10.5 29120 0.2 0.9 0.6 0.1 0.3
12.5 38360 0.7 1.2 0.9 0.5 0.6
Table 4: Removal efficiency COD and heavy metals using optimum alum dosage 1.5 g/l
pH COD (mg/l) Zinc (mg/l) Nickel (mg/l) Lead (mg/l) Cadmium (mg/l) Chromium (mg/l)
2.5 8.5 39 48 33 43 52
4.5 12.6 50 52 56 50 57
6.5 33.9 56 57 63 50 67
8.5 42.2 78 74 70 57 81
10.5 51.9 89 79 78 93 86
12.5 36.7 61 71 67 64 71

Figure 2: pH Vs removal efficiency using alum

Table 5: Determination of COD and heavy metals using optimum Ferric Chloride =3g/l
pH COD (mg/l) Zinc (mg/l) Nickel (mg/l) Lead (mg/l) Cadmium (mg/l) Chromium (mg/l)
2.5 49840 1.2 2.9 2.0 1.1 1.6
4.5 48440 0.9 2.1 1.7 0.8 1.4
6.5 43680 0.8 2.6 1.2 0.6 1.3
8.5 26600 0.4 1.5 0.9 0.3 0.9
10.5 35280 0.7 2.3 1.1 0.7 1.1
12.5 42420 1.0 3.4 1.9 0.9 1.2
Table 6: Removal efficiency COD and heavy metals using optimum Ferric Chloride =3g/l
pH COD (mg/l) Zinc (mg/l) Nickel (mg/l) Lead (mg/l) Cadmium (mg/l) Chromium (mg/l)
2.5 17.75 33 31 26 21 23
4.5 20 50 50 37 42 33
6.5 27.9 55 38 55 57 38
8.5 56.1 77 64 66 78 57
10.5 41.8 61 45 59 50 48
12.5 30 38 19 29 36 43

International Journal of Earth Sciences and Engineering

ISSN 0974-5904, Vol. 09, No. 04, August, 2016, pp. 1536-1539
 Landfill Leachate Treatment by Coagulation and Flocculation Process
Figure 3: pH Vs removal efficiency using Ferric Chloride
2.3 Determination of Optimum dosage of Ferric
Chloride
The above process is repeated by using ferric chloride
as coagulant. To obtain the optimum dosage, the level
of ferric chloride is varied as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 g/l and
the jar test is carried out. The COD is found with the
supernatant of the jar test process. The values
obtained are as follows
Table 7: Determination of Optimum Ferric Chloride
Dosage COD
Efficiency (%)
(g/l) (mg/l)
1 52360 13.6
2 42840 29.3
3 31360 48.2
4 34720 42.7
5 38920 35.7
6 47040 22.4
2.4 Effect of pH Values on Removal of COD and
Heavy Metals Using Ferric Chloride
It is inferred that the optimum coagulant dosage is
3g/l. With the optimal dosage, the pH is varied as 2.5,
4.5, 6.5, 8.5, 10.5, and 12.5 and the coagulation
process is carried out. As the optimum value of pH is
known from the removal percentage of COD and the
heavy metals are detected from the supernatant of the
coagulation process. The following results were
shown in the table 5 and 6.
In low pH values the floc formation is low because,
the attraction between the particles is low. The
optimal value of pH is found to be 8.5. This is
obtained due to the formation of stable floc. The
effect on pH is studied by plotting the graph.
3. Conclusion
The raw leachate characteristics are studied and it is
concluded that the pH is found to be low in the acidic
phase of decomposition. The COD values of higher
range is nearly 60600 mg/l, indicates the higher
concentration of contaminants. The removal of these
International Journal of Earth Sciences and Engineering
ISSN 0974-5904, Vol. 09, No. 04, August, 2016, pp. 1536-1539
1539
pollutants was carried out by coagulation flocculation
process using alum and ferric chloride as coagulant.
The optimum pH level and the dosage level are also
found as 8.5 and 3g/l respectively for ferric chloride
and for alum the optimum pH level and the dosage
level are also found as 10.5 and 1.5g/l respectively.
The COD removal using the coagulants was achieved
as 56% for ferric chloride whereas 52% for the alum
dosage. By comparing the results of coagulation-
flocculation experiments, it can be absorbed that ferric
chloride is more efficient than alum because alum
have a poor settling capacity. Moreover the heavy
metals removal efficiency is found to be higher in
case of alum (85% removal using alum and 68%
using ferric chloride). The advantage of coagulation-
flocculation process is mainly simplicity, low cost,
good removal efficiency and easy onsite
implementation. This method could be used for pre-
or post- leachate treatment in combination with
biological treatment process.
References
[1] Silva, A.C., M. Dezotti and G.L. Sant’Anna Jr,
Treatment and detoxification of a sanitary landfill
eachate. Chemosphere, (2004), 55: 207-214.
[2] Afshin Maleki, Mohammad Ali Zazouli, Hassan
Izanloo and Reza Rezaee, Composting plant
leachate treatment by coagulation- flocculation
process. American – Eurasian J.Agric. &
Environ. Sci..,5(5):638-643,2009.
[3] Lee Mao Rui, Zawawi Daud , Abdul Aziz Abdul
Latif, Treatment of leachate by coagulation-
flocculation using different Coagulants and
Polymer: A review. International Journal on
Advanced Science Engineering Information
Technology, Vol. 2(2012) No. 2 ISSN:2088-
5334.
[4] Shabiimmam M.A and Anil Kumar Dikshit,
Treatment of Landfill Leachate using
Coagulation.2011 2nd International Conference on
Environmental Science and Technology IPCBEE
vol.6 (2011) IACSIT Press.Singapore..