Post-treatment of sanitary landfill leachate by coagulation-flocculation using chitosan as primary coagulant

Chitosan was chosen as an alternative primary coagulant in a complementary coagulation-flocculation treatment of sanitary landfill leachate with the aim of removing recalcitrant organic matter. In order to optimize the process conditions, central composite design and response surface methodology were applied. To evaluate the performance of the process using chitosan, we also carried out tests with aluminium sulphate (Al-2 (SO4)(3 center dot)14 H2O) as coagulant. In addition, acute toxicity tests were carried using the duckweed Lemna minor and the guppy fish Poecilia reticulata as test organisms. The analytic hierarchy process was employed for selecting the most appropriate coagulant. Mean values of true colour removal efficiency of 80% and turbidity removal efficiency of 91.4% were reached at chitosan dosages of 960 mg L-1 at pH 8.5. The acute toxicity tests showed that organisms were sensitive to all samples, mainly after coagulation-flocculation using chitosan. CE50 for L. minor was not determined because there was no inhibition of the average growth rate and biomass production; LC50 for P. reticulata was 23% (v v(-1)). Multi-criteria analysis showed that alum was the most appropriate coagulant. Therefore, chitosan as primary coagulant was not considered to be a viable alternative in the post-treatment of landfill leachate.