Aerobic composting leachate treatment by the combination of membrane processes

The main product of the conversion process of organic wastes to a useful organic fertilizer, known as compost, has gained an increasing interest in management of organic wastes recently. One of the main problems arising in the composting facilities is the high organic loaded leachate. In this study, a treatability experiment for composting leachate from a full-scale composting facility was carried out with the combination of membrane processes. The parameters such as chemical oxygen demand, total organic carbon, Cl⁻ and NH₄⁺ were analysed to evaluate the membrane treatment performances of single and combined membrane systems consisting centrifuge, cartridge filter, ultrafiltration and nanofiltration membranes. The removal efficiencies of all pollutants were observed between 4.4 and 98%. The highest removal efficiencies were observed with the nanofiltration membrane (NF90) having a lower molecular weight cut-off than the others used in this study. It was observed that the effluent of NF90 membrane did not exceed the allowed maximum COD value.