Resource recovery toward sustainability through nutrient removal from landfill leachate

Tonni Agustiono Kurniawan; Deepak Singh; Wenchao Xue; Ram Avtar; Mohd Hafiz Dzarfan Othman; Goh Hui Hwang; Tjandra Setiadi; Ahmad B Albadarin; Saeed Shirazian

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112265

Resource recovery toward sustainability through nutrient removal from landfill leachate

J Environ Manage. 2021 Jun 1:287:112265. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112265. Epub 2021 Mar 14.

Authors

Tonni Agustiono Kurniawan¹, Deepak Singh², Wenchao Xue³, Ram Avtar⁴, Mohd Hafiz Dzarfan Othman⁵, Goh Hui Hwang⁶, Tjandra Setiadi⁷, Ahmad B Albadarin⁸, Saeed Shirazian⁹

Affiliations

¹ College of the Environment and Ecology, Xiamen University (XMU), Xiamen 361102, Fujian Province, PR China; Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Change, School of Environment, Resources, and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, PO Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand. Electronic address: tonni@xmu.edu.cn.
² Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN), Kamigamo, Kita-ku, Kyoto 603-8047, Japan.
³ Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Change, School of Environment, Resources, and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, PO Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand.
⁴ Faculty of Environmental Earth Sciences, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan.
⁵ Advanced Membrane Technology Research Centre (AMTEC), School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, University Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Skudai, Johor, Malaysia.
⁶ School of Electrical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning, Guangxi, PR China.
⁷ Center for Environmental Studies, Bandung Institute of Technology, Bandung 40135, Indonesia.
⁸ Department of Chemical Sciences, Bernal Institute, University of Limerick, Limerick, V94 T9PX, Ireland.
⁹ Institute of Research and Development, Duy Tan University, Da Nang, 550000, Viet Nam; Faculty of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Duy Tan University, Da Nang, 550000, Viet Nam; Laboratory of Computational Modeling of Drugs, South Ural State University, 76 Lenin prospekt, Chelyabinsk 454080, Russia.

PMID: 33730674
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112265

Abstract

This study investigated the feasibility of integrated ammonium stripping and/or coconut shell waste-based activated carbon (CSWAC) adsorption in treating leachate samples. To valorize unused biomass for water treatment application, the adsorbent originated from coconut shell waste. To enhance its performance for target pollutants, the adsorbent was pretreated with ozone and NaOH. The effects of pH, temperature, and airflow rate on the removal of ammoniacal nitrogen (NH₃-N) and refractory pollutants were studied during stripping alone. The removal performances of refractory compounds in this study were compared to those of other treatments previously reported. To contribute new knowledge to the field of study, perspectives on nutrients removal and recovery like phosphorus and nitrogen are presented. It was found that the ammonium stripping and adsorption treatment using the ozonated CSWAC attained an almost complete removal (99%) of NH₃-N and 90% of COD with initial NH₃-N and COD concentrations of 2500 mg/L and 20,000 mg/L, respectively, at optimized conditions. With the COD of treated effluents higher than 200 mg/L, the combined treatments were not satisfactory enough to remove target refractory compounds. Therefore, further biological processes are required to complete their biodegradation to meet the effluent limit set by environmental legislation. As this work has contributed to resource recovery as the driving force of landfill management, it is important to note the investment and operational expenses, engineering applicability of the technologies, and their environmental concerns and benefits. If properly managed, nutrient recovery from waste streams offers environmental and socio-economic benefits that would improve public health and create jobs for the local community.

Keywords: Circular economy; Landfill leachate; Nutrient removal; Resource recovery; Zero-waste.

MeSH terms

Adsorption
Biodegradation, Environmental
Nitrogen
Nutrients
Water Pollutants, Chemical* / analysis
Water Purification*

Substances

Water Pollutants, Chemical
Nitrogen