Leachate Treatment Using

Phytoremediation

By
• Jyoti Kadam
• Shweta Chikane
• Ruturaj Jadhav
• Siddharth Marathe
• Vishal Wani
 Leachate
• The major problem after the disposal of solid waste is the
formation of leachate (liquid) due to decomposition of waste
and is accelerated due to rainwater percolation through it
thereby extracting suspended or soluble solids from the
decomposed waste.
• The quality of leachate depends upon
1. Rainwater percolation
2. Biochemical processes in the waste
3. Compaction of the landfill
4. Age of waste
5. Seasonal weather variations
6. Waste type and composition
Visit to garbage transfer centre at
Katraj
Visit to Phursungi Garbage Depot
• Aim: To study leachate treatment using phytoremediation.
• Objectives:
1. Search for plants which can sustain in the toxicity of leachate and
efficiently remove contaminants.
2. Reduction of contaminants including TS, BOD, COD, heavy
metals namely Mercury, Arsenic, Chromium, Lead and Cadmium.
3. Find optimum number of plants, amount of culture and time
required to maximum removal of contaminants.
4. Development of an alternate treatment process which will be
efficient as well as economical compared to conventional methods.
 Phytoremediation

• It is a technique in which plants are used for decontamination

of land or water through different processes like photo-
synthesis, extraction, mineralization, fixation etc.
• The above methods reduce the BOD, TSS, TDS etc. to an
acceptable amount but does not ensure the removal of heavy
metals.
• This technique is being used for the treatment of contaminated
soils as well as sewage.
• The purpose of this study includes finding out Accumulators,
Hyperaccumulators and Metallophytes.
 Why sunflower?
• Hyper accumulator of heavy metals and can accumulate Pb,
Cd, Hg, Cr and As.
• Accumulates heavy metals in roots compared to shoots and
also other contaminants are degraded like BOD and COD.
• Can be used to produce biodiesel and seed oil can be used in
industries.
• Has a large biomass content and doesn’t change with
accumulation of heavy metals.
• Growth period is short as compared to other hyper
accumulators.
• Aesthetically better than other plants.
Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi
• 2 types- Endo and Ecto AMF
• Enhances the nutrient and water uptake capacity of the
plant and helps store it.
• Makes the contaminants bio available.
• They are extensions of the roots and work better than the
roots themselves.
• Stimulates growth of roots.
• Enhances resistance to root related diseases.
Methodology
 Results
• The initial contents of leachate for 60% dilution were
Paramet Inlet Outlet Outlet Permissible limits
ers Without With
VAM VAM
COD 8000 mg/l 4200 mg/l 7000 mg/l <250 mg/l (for inland surface
water-MSW 2016)
BOD 96 mg/l 54 mg/l 84 mg/l <100 mg/l (MSW 2016)

TS 18160 15800 17280

mg/l mg/l mg/l

Hg 0.76 ppm 0.166 ppm 0.213 ppm <0.1 ppm (CPCB, India)

Pb 0.518 ppm 0.516 ppm 0.696 ppm <2 ppm (CPCB, India)

As 0.12 ppm 0.1 ppm 0.11 ppm <1 ppm ( CPCB, India)

Cd 0.02 ppm 0.016 ppm 0.018 ppm <2 ppm (CPCB, India)
 Heavy
metals Mercury Lead Cadmium Chromium Arsenic
(ppm)

Initial soil 0.24 9.69 - - 0.28

sample

Soil sample 0.33 21.5 - - 1.21

1

Soil sample 0.21 10.33 - - 0.13

2

Plant 0.26 10.6 - - 0.7

without
VAM

Plant with 0.21 10.8 1.02 16.8 0.82

VAM
 Calculation of HRT

• HRT is calculated by formula,

• Initial 8 litres is added for saturation.

• Minimum 15 days for phytoremediation using sunflower.

• Calculated as 19 days and 0.7 litre for each plant each day.
Date Inlet Saturatio Saturation Outlet Outlet Flow rate Dilution
for n required of R1 of R2 for each (%)
each required for R2 (litres) (litres) reactor
reactor for R1 (litres) (minutes)
(litres) (litres)
15/03/17 2 - - 0.7 0.7 15 60

16/03/17 1.5 - - 0.41 0.5 20 60

17/03/17 1.5 0.5 0.5 0.16 0.17 20 60

18/03/17 1.5 1.5 1.5 0.75 1 20 60

19/03/17 1.5 1.5 1.5 1 1 20 60

20/03/17 1.5 1.7 1.75 1 1.2 20 60

21/03/17 2 1.5 1.8 1.2 1.8 20 60

Total 11.5 14.7 15.05 5.22 6.37

The HRT for R1 was calculated as 16.38 days and for R2 as

20.53 days.
 Calculation of evapotranspiration

• Evapotranspiration is calculated by,

• ETc = Kc × ETo

• Kc= Crop Coefficient = 0.81 for sunflower

• ETo = Reference evapotranspiration =

 NCSS Software for Correlation and
Regression analysis

• Correlation and Regression analysis was used to find the

relation between independent and dependent variables and
predict the results accordingly.

• The independent variables were minimum and maximum

temperature for a day and dependent variable was
evapotranspiration.
 Rate of application
Month Average rate of Rate of application
application (l/hr)
(l/day) for 4hrs.
November 4.532 1.133
December 4.250 1.062
January 4.345 1.086
February 5.150 1.287
 Design of plant
• Leachate to be treated-15 lakh litre
• 2 life cycle of sunflower over 4 months
• Maximum evapotranspiration was observed on 24th February
which was 5.232/day for 1m2 area
• Area required for 1 plant = 0.18m2 (assuming plant spacing of
0.3m and 0.6m spacing of rows in furrow irrigation)
• Evapotranspiration for 0.18m2 is 0.94/day.
• The average leachate required for achieving HRT of 19 days is
26.37 litres. Therefore 1.38 litres, approx 1.4 litres leachate is
required per day for 2 plants i.e. 0.7 litres per plant per day.
• Therefore 0.7+0.94 = 1.64 litres/plant/day of leachate.
• x = 7622 plants.

• For 1 hectare optimum number of plants are 55556

• Hence for 7622 plants area required is 1372 m2 with a depth of

1 foot.
 Cost Analysis
Sr.No. Description Rate per unit Cost (in Rs)
(in Rs)
1 Excavation 112/cub.m, 2,25,254
52/cub.m (labour)
2 PCC 4300/cub.m, 6,77,390
600/cub.m(labour)
3 UCR 3415/cub.m, 4,13,530
1519/cub.m(labour)
4 Murum filling 310/cub.m, 1,62,755
85/cub.m(labour)
5 PST - 9000
6 Contractors profit - 1,48,792
7 Electrification - 89,275
8 Contingencies - 44,638
9 Water - 14,879
10 Drip irrigtion - 25,312
11 Motor - 3,500
Total 18,14,325
Sr.No. Description Rate per unit Cost (in Rs)
(in Rs)

1 Operational cost - 28,558

2 Miscellaneous - 5,000

Total 33,558
• Assuming that 1 sunflower has 1000 to 2000 seeds. It is
assumed that 1000 seeds weigh 50 grams.
• Therefore total weight of sunflower seeds = weight of 1
sunflower seeds × number of plants
• = 50 × 7622 = 380 kg.
• The sunflowers are sown twice i.e. once in 2 months.
• Therefore, overall production of sunflower seeds = 2× 380
= 760 kg/ 4 months.
• Assuming rate of sunflower seeds per kg = Rs.40
• Therefore cost incurred from 4 months of plantation
= 40 × 760 = Rs.30,400/4 months.
• If soil remediation is done for 2 months i.e. growth period for
sunflower plant , using normal water we can get an output of =
Rs.15200/-
• Total income from project = Rs.45600/ per year.
 Conclusion

• Hence for the proposal at the depot,

• Overall construction cost was Rs.18,14,325/-.

• The operation cost was Rs.33,558/year and

• The income from selling sunflower seeds for biodiesel

production was Rs.45,600/year for 6 months.
 Future Scope
• After the process, sunflower oil and biomass content of the
flower can be used to produce biodiesel.
Micro-organisms Heavy metal
Rhizopusarrhizus and Mercury as Hg
Baccharomyeces cerevisiae
Baccharomyeces Lead as Pb
cerevisiae, Salmonella
chloeraesuis strain 4A,
Bacillus sp and P.
Aeruginosa (biosorption)
Citrobacterssp, Aspergillus Cadmium as Cd
versicolor and Bacillus
safenis (RSA-4)
Pseudomonas sp. PsA, P. Chromium as Cr
Putida strain, P. Aeruginosa
and P. Fluorescens.
Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus Arsenic as As
Thank you