Abstract
Generated leachate in landfills is often as a result of the
infiltration of rain, surface or running water into waste bodies.
Numerous studies have revealed the potential impacts of leachate
escape from landfill disposal facilities on human and environmental
health. Although much is been done in most landfills in South Africa
to ensure minimal leachate escape into immediate soil, surface and
groundwater reserves, much more is still required. As such, the
option of leachate treatment is gradually been explored. The potential
efficiency and energy usage of a landfill waste water treatment plant
(WWTP) for a simple leachate treatment process is explored. The
WWTP process involves the basic treatment of the leachate with
subsequent sequencing batch reactors (SBR), reverse osmosis unit
(RO) and evaporation for additional concentration of RO yield. The
process efficiency is appraised by conductivity, chemical oxygen
demand (BOD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and total
nitrogen (TN) measurements. Energy usage is estimated by electrical
input power, motor efficiency of power-consuming units and
functional hours. 2.2% of the of the WWTP total operational real
power consumption is gotten for the primary treatment process with
16.7% corresponding SBR operation and 13.2% RO unit. 2 unit
evaporators consumes 61.5% and 0.78% for leachate recirculation to
landfill from the total energy usage. Therefore, RO is taken as the
most efficient leachate treatment process as it can dispense
substantial amounts of water from the landfill leachate pond whereas,
the evaporators are energy demanding.