MBR FOR LEACHATE TREATMENT

About the Project

Dr. Daniel Yeh

Phone:  813-974-4746

Fax: 813-974-2957

dyeh@eng.usf.edu

In recent years, considerable attention has been given to the environmental presence and persistence of xenobiotics, especially pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) which often exhibit traits as potential endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs).  To date, the majority of the studies on PPCPs have focused on their fate in sewage treatment plants and the aquatic environment.  Increasingly, in light of evidence on the inability of conventional wastewater treatment systems to completely remove these contaminants, the public is instructed to dispose of unwanted PPCPs in household trash.  With landfills growingly serving as a long-term depository for PPCPs, the burden of PPCP removal is shifted to the landfill operators.  An effective leachate treatment system is needed to protect surrounding soils and groundwater.  However, due to the complexity of leachate constituents, conventional methods of biological or physicochemical treatment are either ineffective or overly costly in many instances.

 
The membrane bioreactor (MBR), which synergistically integrates biological waste treatment with membrane filtration, is a state-of-the-art technology currently underutilized for leachate treatment, especially in the United States.  For this project, a novel MBR process will be developed and tested on its ability to remove PPCPs in addition to typical leachate constituents from landfill leachate.  A hormone prevalent in the environment and household trash, 17-beta -estradiol, will be used as the model compound for determining the efficiency of the treatment process.  In the initial phase, a laboratory-scale system will be developed to treat simulated landfill leachate.   The objectives of the study are to demonstrate proof of concept and determine critical operational parameters for eventual pilot-scale implementation of the MBR process. The female hormone 17-beta-estradiol, commonly available in tablet blister packs or transdermal patches, has a high likelihood of depositing in the landfill when discard through household trash