A review on the application of nanoporous zeolite for sanitary landfill leachate treatment

Abstract

This review deals with low-cost nanoporous zeolites for the treatment of sanitary landfill leachate. Organic contaminants and ammoniacal nitrogen are significant parameters in landfill leachate treatment. Adsorption processes are regarded as promising alternative treatment options in this respect. Zeolites are aluminosilicate materials that are widely used in separation, filtration, adsorption and catalysis. Natural zeolite is a low-cost and readily available form of zeolite and is a promising candidate to be used as an ion-exchange material for ammonia and other inorganic pollutant removal from landfill leachate. In this review, adsorption isotherms and kinetic models in batch systems are evaluated and adsorption design parameters of the fixed-bed system are presented. Studies on ammonia removal from landfill leachate via zeolites have been thoroughly investigated. Leachate treatment systems combined with zeolites are presented. Cost of zeolites are also reported in comparison with other adsorbents. The investigated studies demonstrate that activated zeolite can improve the removal of chemical oxygen demand, NH3-N and colour significantly compared to the case where raw zeolite is used. Moreover, the composite of activated carbon and zeolite is also favorable for ammonia removal according to reported findings, where best adsorptive removal is attained on the composite media (24.39 mg/g). HIGHLIGHTS High ammonium contents in leachate is a serious environmental problem.; Zeolite is an inexpensive material for the ammonia removal.; Integration of zeolites to landfill leachate treatment systems increased ammonia removal.; The column efficiency for ammonia adsorption increased after the regeneration process.; The activated zeolite can improve the removal of COD and NH3-N from landfill leachate.;

Keywords

• ammonia removal
• fixed bed system
• landfill leachate
• low-cost adsorbents
• nanoporous materials
• zeolite