Performance of VSEP vibratory membrane filtration system during the treatment of landfill leachates

In this study the performance of a vibratory shear enhanced unit (VSEP) for the treatment of raw stabilized leachate produced during landfill of municipal wastes was assessed. For this purpose, four different membrane types were examined for the treatment of leachates, i.e., one for microfiltration (with mean pore diameter 0.1 μm), two for ultrafiltration (with molecular cut-off 100 kDa and 10 kDa) and one for nanofiltration (50% rejection of NaCl). The vibration amplitude of the membrane module was set to 25.4 mm. The treatment capability of the system was evaluated especially regarding the removal of organic load (COD), of suspended solids, of conductivity (dissolved solids), of N–NH4+ and of HA. The removal of organic matter in terms of COD value was exceeded 60% for all cases. Similar pattern of retention capacity was also observed for the case of suspended solids, regarding the respective turbidity values. Finally, the rejection of humic-like substances was highly depended upon the applied membrane process, as the lowest removal capacity was observed for microfiltration (about 47%), whereas the highest for nanofiltration (about 97%).