A Preliminary Study on Application of MBR plus NF/RO (Membrane Bio-Reactor plus Nanofiltration/Reverse Osmosis) Combination Process for Landfill Leachate Treatment in China

Landfill leachate involves high concentrations of organic compounds, ammonia nitrogen, heavy metals and other complex components. Hence, it is very difficult to treat using conventional biological processes alone. This research is a preliminary literature review on using MBR+NF/RO combination process to achieve purification of landfill leachate in China. MBR+NF/RO process is a combination of biological and physico-chemical technology, including MBR system, nanofiltration and reverse osmosis devices. The study found that, the benefit of a complementary combination of MBR and NF/RO process with respect to removal of ammonia nitrogen, trace organic and heavy metal ions appears quite intuitive. And this promising treatment has developed rapidly in China in last few decades. In this paper, representative project examples in China were selected for review. Mechanism and influencing factors of MBR+NF/RO process in China in the past decades will be reviewed and recommendations will be given for the future development of Chinese MBR+NF/RO process.