Tackling the Concentrate Problem: An Innovative Full-Quantification Landfill Leachate Treatment Solution

In municipal solid waste disposal, incineration, sanitary landfilling and fermentation are the main treatment methods today. Among them, sanitary landfilling has been widely adopted over the past several years for its simple process setup, flexible operation and management, and low investment cost. As landfilling periods lengthen, the large volumes of aged landfill leachate become increasingly complex in composition, contain various toxic and hazardous substances and have poor biodegradability. China's existing leachate treatment facilities generally face problems in actual operation such as high treatment difficulty, unsatisfactory results and prominent techno-economic contradictions.

Characteristics of common landfill leachate treatment technologies

Research on municipal leachate treatment technologies has continued at home and abroad for a long time; conventional treatment routes mainly include physical-chemical methods, biological treatment and land treatment. In China's landfills, the "pretreatment + two-stage DTRO" process is widely used, and some regions adopt combined "pretreatment + biological treatment + advanced treatment" processes. DTRO (disc-tube reverse osmosis), with its special structure and design advantages, offers easy cleaning, strong anti-clogging performance and long continuous operation.

However, the concentrate produced by conventional DTRO is usually handled by leachate recirculation; long-term internal circulation causes COD and various impurities to accumulate continuously, seriously affecting the stability of system operation. The concentrate problem not only significantly raises the overall operating cost of the "pretreatment + two-stage DTRO" process but has also become a technical bottleneck in leachate treatment systems that urgently needs to be overcome.

Process comparison

Based on the concept of "pretreatment + biological treatment + advanced treatment", SINOKLE has innovatively launched a full-quantification landfill leachate treatment solution with the CDOF technology at its core. The process achieves zero concentrate production, greatly reduces chemical dosage, and generates minimal or even no hazardous waste such as sludge, while offering low energy consumption and a compact footprint; it has been successfully applied in multiple projects.

Landfill leachate treatment case