What is the pH of landfill leachate?
8–8.5 pH
As landfills age, the pH of leachates changes from values corresponding to acidic to alkaline solutions. It is usually in the range of 8–8.5 pH, which is associated with the formation of alkaline compounds (Słomczyńska and Słomczyński, 2004).
What are the factors influencing leachate quality and quantity?
Eckenfelder and Musterman1 list landfill age, ambient air temperature, precipitation and refuse permeability, depth, temperature, and waste composition as factors that affect leachate quantity and composition. Further, they observe that as landfills age, readily degradable organics undergo anaerobic degradation.
What are the leachate and landfill gases?
Landfill gas (LFG) is a natural byproduct of the decomposition of organic material in landfills. LFG is composed of roughly 50 percent methane (the primary component of natural gas), 50 percent carbon dioxide (CO2) and a small amount of non-methane organic compounds.
How does leachate contribute to groundwater pollution?
Landfill Cross Section The leachate from Municipal Solid waste landfills is a highly concentrated “chemical soup”, so concentrated that small amounts of leachate can pollute large amounts of groundwater, leaving it unsuitable for domestic water use.
What is leachate formation?
Leachate? “The liquid formed when rain water filters through wastes placed in a landfill. When this liquid comes in contact with buried wastes, it leaches, or draws out, chemicals or constituents from those wastes”.
How does landfill leachate affect water quality?
The leachate from Municipal Solid waste landfills is a highly concentrated “chemical soup”, so concentrated that small amounts of leachate can pollute large amounts of groundwater, leaving it unsuitable for domestic water use.
How does leachate contaminate our water supply?
The leachate from MSW landfills may leak into groundwater aquifers due to rainfalls, spread into the adjacent river system by groundwater flow and pollute the surrounding environment.
What size pump do I need for a leachate treatment plant?
With models available from 1 – 240 gpm, Cat Pumps has the right pump for leachate treatment installations. These pumps can also be purchased as a motor and pump unit with A/C motors (50 or 60 Hz), DC motors, hydraulic or engine-driven.
Why do landfills have large leachate sumps?
Landfills located in areas that receive higher than average rainfall tend to have larger leachate sumps installed to cater for the higher volumes of liquid. Another key factor to take into account when planning a leachate sump, is the capacity of the sump pump.
What are the environmental impacts of landfill leachate?
The significant impacts of landfill leachate could be eutrophication of aquatic systems and toxic effects on fauna which are caused by a variety of contaminants ( Lavrova and Koumanova, 2010 ).
What happens if you use a low capacity pump for leachate?
If a pump with a low capacity is used then the volume of the leachate sump needs to be higher to compensate for this. It is vital that the sump is capable of storing the anticipated volume of leachate that is expected to accumulate in the sump between each pumping cycle.