The treatment of landfill leachate using an MFUF membrane system: Focusing on membrane fouling

Abstract

Membrane systems are being used increasingly throughout the western world to treat landfill leachate as environmental regulations tighten. This work examined leachate filtration using a bench-scale MF/UF membrane system, focussing on surface fouling and constituent reductions at the Trail Road Landfill in Ottawa, Ontario. The study found that ultrafiltration membranes with a molecular weight cut-off of 10 KDa and below gave the best overall leachate treatment. A 1 KDa ultrafiltration membrane gave the highest percent removals overall of all the membranes tested, but had one of the lowest steady state fluxes ranging from 2 to 5 L/m2h. Carbonates such as calcite and dolomite were determined to be one of the main foulants/scalants. Iron sulphides or iron oxides tended to form a general coating over the membrane surface and may have been the base for a surface coating of mixed-element origins observed in spring 2003. The fouling type was generally thought to be cake filtration based on flux results and basic fouling determination equations. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)