Bioresource Technology 98 (2007) 218–220

Short Communication

Colour removal from landfill leachate by coagulation

and flocculation processes
Hamidi Abdul Aziz *, Salina Alias, Mohd. Nordin Adlan, Faridah,
A.H. Asaari, Mohd. Shahrir Zahari
School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Engineering Campus, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia

Received 8 August 2005; received in revised form 11 November 2005; accepted 13 November 2005
Available online 4 January 2006

Abstract

A study was conducted to investigate the efficiency of coagulation and flocculation processes for removing colour from a semi-aerobic
landfill leachate from one of the landfill sites in Malaysia. Four types of coagulant namely aluminium (III) sulphate (alum), ferric (III)
chloride, ferrous (II) sulphate and ferric (III) sulphate were studied using standard jar test apparatus. Results indicated that ferric chlo-
ride was superior to the other coagulants and removed 94% of colour at an optimum dose of 800 mg/l at pH 4. The effect of coagulant
dosages on colour removal showed similar trend as for COD, turbidity and suspended solids. This suggested that colour in landfill leach-
ate was mainly contributed by organic matters with some insoluble forms that exhibited turbidity and suspended solids readings. The
results from this study suggested that ferric chloride could be a viable coagulant in managing colour problems associated with landfill
leachate.
 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Colour removal; Coagulation and flocculation; Ferric chloride; Leachate; pH

1. Introduction efficiency of landfill leachates (Kargi and Pamukoglu,

Sanitary landfill for the disposal of municipal solid
wastes continues to be widely accepted and used in the sev-
eral countries. This method generally offers lower cost of
operation and maintenance as compared to others. How-
ever, leachate migration from the landfill could be a poten-
tial source of surface and groundwater contaminations.
Landfill leachate is a very dark coloured liquid formed pri-
marily by the percolation of precipitation through open
landfill or through the cap of the completed site. The
decomposition of organic matter such as humic acid may
cause the water to be yellow, brown or black (Zouboulis
et al., 2004). Combinations of physical, chemical, and bio-
logical treatments are usually used to improve the treatment
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +60 45 99 62 15; fax: +60 45 94 10 09.
E-mail address: cehamidi@eng.usm.my (H.A. Aziz).
2004).
There are several techniques used for colour removal.
These include chemical precipitation, adsorption through
granular activated carbon, nanofiltration, ozonation, radi-
ation, UV photolysis, chemical coagulation, biological
treatment with various additives, anaerobic process, fluid-
ized bio film process, and advanced oxidation with UV/
H2O (Ahmedna et al., 2000; Kadirvelu et al., 2003; Manu
and Chaudhari, 2002). However, there is no specific guide-
line for the treatment of colour in landfill leachate, espe-
cially in Malaysia. Coagulation followed by flocculation
process is an effective way for removing high concentration
of organic pollutants (Wang et al., 2002). Aluminium and
iron salt coagulants have been widely used for removing
humic substances from water (Amokrane et al., 1997).
This study focussed on the leachate generated from
Pulau Burung Landfill Site (PBLS), situated in Byram For-
est Reserve in Penang, Malaysia. This site is subjected to

0960-8524/$ - see front matter  2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2005.11.013
 H.A. Aziz et al. / Bioresource Technology 98 (2007) 218–220 219

Table 1 prepared by dissolving 50 g of salts in 1 l of distilled water.

The characteristics of raw leachate from new detention pond at PBLS Sulphuric acid and sodium hydroxide were used for pH
(landfill age about 3 years) taken from January to December 2003
adjustment.
Parameter Value Standard Ba Samples were withdrawn using plastic syringe from the
pH 7.8–9.4 5.5–9.0 point located about 2 cm below the liquid level for the
COD (mg/l) 1533–3600 100 determination of colour, COD, suspended solids, and tur-
BOD (mg/l) 48–1120 50
Turbidity (NTU) 50–450 –
bidity. Analyses were undertaken in triplicates. The pH
Suspended solid (mg/l) 159–1120 100 was measured by pH meter (CyberScan 20) while turbidity
Colour (PtCo) 2430–8180 – was measured using 2020 Turbidimeter (LaMotte). COD
Zinc (mg/l) 0.1–1.8 1.0 were determined in accordance with the Method 5220 D
Copper (mg/l) 0.1–0.4 1.0 (closed reflux, colourimetric method) of the Standard
Manganese (mg/l) 0.6–1.1 1.0
Cadmium (mg/l) <0.04 0.02
Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater
Iron (mg/l) 0.32–7.5 5.0 (1992). Colour measurements were reported as true colour
a
Standard B of the Environmental Quality (Sewage and Industrial
(filtered using 0.45 lm filter paper) assayed at 455 nm using
Effluents) Regulations 1979, under the Environmental Quality Act of DR 2000 HACH spectrophotometer following Standard
Malaysia, 1974. Method for the Examination of Water and Wastewater
(1992), Method No. 2120C reported in Platinum–cobalt
(PtCo), the unit of colour being produced by 1 mg plati-
highly coloured and turbid leachate, ranging from 2430 to num/l in the form of the chloroplatinate ion. The effect
8180 PtCo due to the presence of high organic matters of filtration on colour removal was corrected by means of
(measured as COD) that associated with suspended solids a control sample. Removal efficiency of colour was
and turbidity as shown in Table 1. The objective of this obtained using the following formula.
research was to investigate the efficiency of coagulation Removal ð%Þ ¼ ½ðC i  C f Þ=C i   100 ð1Þ
and flocculation processes for the removal of colour from
semi-aerobic landfill leachate using different types of coag- where Ci and Cf are the initial and final colour concentra-
ulants. This study also aimed to establish the removal pat- tion of leachate, respectively.
tern of colour in relation to the organic matter removal
(measured as COD) and associated suspended solids and 3. Results and discussions
turbidity.
3.1. Effect of pH on removal of colour
2. Methods
The influence of pH (pH ranges between 2 and 14) on
Leachate samples were collected from PBLS between the reduction of colour was investigated without adding
January and December 2003. Samples were collected from any coagulant. Result indicated that the colour of leachate
the active detention pond with leachate age of less than 5 turned from black to light brown at lower and at higher pH
years and filled in 30-l plastic container, transported to values. Lower removal was obtained between pH 5 and 9,
the laboratory and stored at 4 C. Leachate was analyzed without the formation of significant flocs (Fig. 1). Then the
for pH, BOD, COD, colour, suspended solids, turbidity, sample was tested by adding 500 mg/l of coagulant under
zinc, copper, manganese, cadmium and iron according to different pH values. Results indicated that the percentage
Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and of colour removal with and without coagulant (Fig. 1)
Wastewater (1992). Leachate samples were removed from
the refrigerator and were placed for about 2 h at about
90
22 C for conditioning. Samples were thoroughly agitated
80
for re-suspension of possible settling solids before any test
70
was conducted.
60
% Removal

Coagulation studies on leachate were performed with jar

test equipment (Jar Tester Model CZ150) comprising six 50

paddle rotors (24.5 mm · 63.5 mm), equipped with 6 beak- 40

ers of 1 l each. A pre-determined concentrations of alum, 30

ferric (III) chloride [FeCl3], ferrous (II) sulphate [FeSO4] 20

and ferric (III) sulphate [Fe2(SO4)3] was added to 1 l of 10

conditioned leachate. The initial rapid mixing stage for 0
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
both experiments were 1 min at 350 rpm, followed with pH
slow mixing stage for 19 min at 50 rpm. The final gravity Alum Fe2(SO4)3 Without coagulant
FeCl3 FeSO4
settling stage lasted for another 1 h before sampling.
Chemical reagents used for coagulants were commercially Fig. 1. Pattern of colour removal without and with addition of 500 mg/l
available, supplied by R&M Marketing, UK. They were coagulant at different pH values.
220 H.A. Aziz et al. / Bioresource Technology 98 (2007) 218–220

followed the same trend for all types of coagulant. FeCl3
exhibited the best results in terms of colour removal and
alum was less sensitive than iron salts coagulant with lower
removal. In the case of FeSO4, the removal started to
decrease drastically with an increased in pH until pH 8
and reached the highest removal at pH 13. It was con-
cluded that the optimum pH for colour removal was
approximately 4 and 12, former being superior. Wang
et al. (2002) reported that treatment of leachate using coag-
ulation–photo oxidation process showed better result at
lower pH value.
pended solids reduction. The removal of all parameters
increased with an increased dosage of coagulants. For
example, the removals of colour, turbidity, suspended sol-
ids and COD at 200 mg/l of FeCl3 were 66%, 57%, 72%,
and 27%, respectively. The removal increased to 92%,
95%, 94%, and 51%, respectively at 1200 mg/l of FeCl3.
This suggested that colour was mainly produced by organic
matter, with some insoluble forms that exhibited turbidity
and suspended solids readings.
4. Conclusions

3.2. Effect of coagulant dosage on the removal of colour It could be concluded that pH 4 and 12 were the opti-
mum values for colour removal by coagulation and floccu-
The influence of different dosages of coagulants at differ- lation processes. Ferric chloride was superior to other
ent pH values (pH 4, 6 and 12) for the removal of colour metals salts at 800 mg/l and at pH 4, with over 94%
was further investigated. Results showed that the colour removal. The effect of coagulant dosages on colour
removal increased with an increase in coagulant dosage removal had similar trend to COD, turbidity and sus-
(until it reached an optimum value after which the turbidity pended solid reduction, which confirmed that colour was
removal started to decrease, Table 2). This could be attrib- mainly produced by organic matter. The results of this
uted by the restabilization of colloidal particulates when study suggested that ferric chloride could be a viable coag-
coagulants were used at dosages in excess of the optimum ulant in managing the colour problems in leachate.
value. Ferric chloride exhibited good performance in
removing colour from leachate with lower dosage of coag- Acknowledgements
ulants. The removal of colour increased drastically with an
increase of ferric chloride dose at all pH values (pH 4, 6 The authors acknowledge the Ministry of Science, Tech-
and 12). However, at pH 6, all the coagulants needed nology and Environment Malaysia for the National Scien-
higher dosage in removing colour compared to at pH 4 tific Fellowship to one of the authors and IRPA research
and 12. For example, ferric chloride achieved 97% removal grant. Thanks are due to the Majlis Perbandaran Seberang
at pH 6 with a dosage of 2500 mg/l while at pH 4, the col- Perai, Penang and the contractor Idaman Bersih Sdn. Bhd.,
our reduced by 94% at a dosage of 800 mg/l. It was also Penang for their cooperation during the study.
observed that lower pH exhibited better colour removal
for all coagulants, except for FeSO4. When FeSO4 was
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