Abstract
A chemical and biological permeable barrier with economic feasibility is suggested to treat landfill leachate in this study. The proposed composite layers consist of bentonite, and polyurethane (PU) foam that is mixed with powdered activated carbon (PAC) and inoculated with microorganisms from local wastewater treatment plant. Each layer is mixed with local sand, and yellow brown soil. Batch tests were conducted to investigate the sorptions of nitrate on the PU foam and PAC, and nitrification/denitrification rate of each layer material. Nitrification occurred in 30 minutes with initial ammonia concentration of 100 mg/L, and the concentration of nitrate attached in the PU foam increased after 270 minutes. Results of denitrification batch tests showed 76.6%, 87.3% and 88% of nitrate removal efficiency at 10%, 20% and 30% of the volume ratio of PU foam, respectively. The pH increased from 7 to 9.42, and alkalinity increased from 980 mg/L to 1720 mg/L during the denitrification batch tests. In the column experiments using the proposed composite layers with 20% of the volume ratio of the PU foam, about 96% of BOD, 63% of COD, 58.1~79.5% of total nitrogen were removed.