Title: Removal of ammoniacal nitrogen and COD from semi-aerobic landfill leachate using low-cost activated carbon–zeolite composite adsorbent

Authors: Azhar Abdul Halim, Hamidi Abdul Aziz, Megat Azmi Megat Johari, Kamar Shah Ariffin, Yung-Tse Hung

Addresses: School of Civil Engineering, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia. ' School of Civil Engineering, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia. ' School of Civil Engineering, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia. ' School of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia. ' Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cleveland State University, 2121 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44115, USA

Abstract: A carbon-zeolite composite adsorbent has been studied for COD and ammoniacal nitrogen removal in semi-aerobic landfill leachate. The optimum conditions for adsorption in the batch study occurred at pH 7, shaking speed of 200 rpm, and contact time of 105 min. The Langmuir isotherms corresponded slightly better than Freundlich isotherm for both ammoniacal nitrogen and COD removals. The Langmuir adsorption capacities for ammonia and COD were 27.47 mg/g and 22.99 mg/g, while the Freundlich adsorption capacities were 0.4227 mg/g and 0.0642 mg/g, respectively. The overall rate of the ammonia and COD adsorption processes appears to be dominated by chemisorption process.

Keywords: adsorption isotherm; ammoniacal nitrogen; COD removal; chemical oxygen demand; composite adsorbents; leachate treatment; physico-chemical treatment; semi-aerobic lechate; landfill leachate; nitrogen removal; zeolite; activated carbon; chemisorption.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEWM.2009.027404

International Journal of Environment and Waste Management, 2009 Vol.4 No.3/4, pp.399 - 411

Published online: 22 Jul 2009 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article