TREATING LANDFILL LEACHATE BY ELECTROCOAGULATION

Abstract

Hazardous waste generation and its disposal in hazardous waste landfill is an unavoidable result of
industrialization. The leachate produced from such landfills is very complex and toxic in nature and it possess
huge potential to contaminate nearby surface and ground water resources. Therefore the collection and
treatment of this leachate is essential for sustainable management of hazardous waste. Various conventional,
chemical and advance processes have been applied to treat this most complex form of waste water but all
technologies are associated with certain limitation and disadvantages. Major limiting factors are cost involved
in treatment, operability of the process and huge sludge generation. Looking at the necessity to establish a
competent treatment process which can overcome above mentioned limitations, Electrocoagulation was
applied to check its efficiency for treating leachate.
Electrocoagulation produces combined effect of chemical coagulation, floatation, precipitation and oxidation
when applied efficiently. In this study, leachate from hazardous waste landfill was treated with
electrocoagulation using different electrodes. Efficiency of the process was checked at different sets of
operating condition so that the results can be optimized. COD removal was taken as parameter of concern and
the average COD removal through electrocoagulation was observed as 91.6%.