Treatment of landfill leachate using advanced oxidation process and struvite precipitation processes

Landfill leachate contains high organic matter, heavy metals, ammonia and xenobiotic compounds. It requires potential treatment prior to its discharge. Several treatment methods are reported in the literature with low Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and ammonia concentration but most of them were inefficient to treat landfill leachate. In this view, Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOP's) in combination with chemical precipitation are considered to be more suitable for high COD and ammonia. In this study, an attempt was made to evaluate the application of Fenton and Struvite Precipitation processes for the removal of COD and ammonia. The operational parameters for Fenton and Struvite are optimized. The individual treatment processes by Fenton and struvite achieved % removal of 60% and 25%, 30% and 65% of COD and ammonia respectively. The Fenton and struvite processes were performed in a sequence with the pre-optimized parameters, where the maximum removal of COD and ammonia is observed as 89% and 78%. The kinetic analysis of struvite process fits into the first order kinetics. Hence, the combined fenton process and struvite precipitation processes are reliable, efficient and can be considered as an alternative treatment for the traditional treatment methods thereby reducing its toxicity. © 2023