Old landfill leachate treatment through multistage process: membrane adsorption bioreactor and nanofitration

A bench-scale integrated process based on submerged aerobic powdered activated carbon-membrane bioreactor (PAC-MBR) has been utilized and established for the treatment of landfill leachate. The results showed that the submerged PAC-MBR system effectively removed biodegradable trace organic compounds by the average removal rate about 71 % at optimum food to microorganism (F/M) ratio of 0.4 gCOD/g day under a HRT of 24 h. Adding nanofiltration (NF) process increased the treatment efficiency up to 99 %. Further, adding powdered activated carbon to activated sludge (AS) resulted in a higher adsorption capacity in comparison with AS. Adsorption isotherms were investigated and fitted by the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models in which the Langmuir model performed better. The specific oxygen uptake rate (SOUR) showed that adding PAC reduces the effects of COD on microorganism activities. NH3–N, TKN and Heavy metals removal efficiency amounted to 97 ± 2, 96 ± 2, and 99 ± 2 %, respectively.