Landfill Leachate Collection and Treatment

Landfills are planned and designed to sequester solid waste material by burying it in layers of earth in an effort to decrease human health hazards. Sustainable collection and treatment of landfill leachate is tremendously important to prevent landfill leachate from causing serious environmental problems. This chapter focuses on landfill leachate collection and treatment for sustainable development of human society, including the principles and operations of landfills; leachate production, collection, characterization, and treatments under different operational and environmental conditions; current status of landfill leachate treatment; and future directions. The most commonly used methods of leachate treatment are aerobic biological systems, including aerated lagoons, activated sludge systems, and sequential batch reactors (SBRs). Membrane technologies are also used for leachate treatment, including microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF), reverse osmosis (RO), and forward osmosis (FO).