ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS OF THE EVAPORATION TECHNOLOGY APPLIED TO TREATMENT OF LEACHATE LANDFILL

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the possible environmental impacts associated with the evaporation technology of landfill leachate. For this reason, experiments were performed at the laboratory scale in order to evaluate the quality of effluent resulted from the process. The experiment was conducted in two stages. The objective of the first stage was to diagnose the behavior of some pollutants into the process of evaporation/distillation. The results of this stage indicated that the process was effective with respect to the removal of COD, TOC, Cl-, and TS. By contrast, higher concentrations of NH3 (4,125 mg.L-1) were transferred to the condensate. From this standpoint, a second stage was conducted in order to evaluate the potential of NH3 and H2S emissions of the gases evaporated from the process of evaporation. The results from this stage showed high concentrations of NH3 in the gas, reaching concentrations close to 1,555 mg.m-3. The presence of H2S, on the other hand, was not detected in the gases.

Key Words: leachate, evaporation/distillation, environmental impacts