Case study 11 / 12 · Division I
Division I · Case Study 11
Landfill Leachate
Bio N-removal + AOP + RO/NF
Leachate from MSW and industrial landfills is one of the most demanding effluents — very high ageing COD, extreme ammonia, high salinity, heavy metals and refractory humics. KEMISTA pairs biological nitrogen removal with AOP and reverse osmosis.
>98%
COD removal
>99%
Ammonia removal
RO
Reuse permeate
Selected treatment train
Raw leachate
→
Equalisation
→
Anaerobic / anammox
→
MBR (nitri/denitri)
→
Advanced oxidation
→
RO / NF
→
Reuse
Indicative influent characteristics
COD
mg/L
2,000–60,000
BOD₅:COD
–
0.1–0.7
NH₄-N
mg/L
500–3,000
Chloride
mg/L
1,000–5,000
TDS
mg/L
5,000–35,000
pH
–
5.5–8.5
COD reduction along the train
COD (mg/L)
20,000
Raw
3,000
+Biology
1,200
+AOP
150
+RO
Why this configuration
High ammonia removed by nitrification/denitrification (or anammox) — the defining challenge.
MBR + RO is the proven backbone: biology cuts COD and N, RO delivers clean permeate.
Advanced oxidation breaks refractory humic COD that biology and membranes leave behind.
Concentrate management by evaporation / ZLD avoids re-injecting brine.
Your sector not listed, or a stream that defies the categories?
KEMISTA characterises the stream and engineers a bespoke train — that is what bench and pilot testing are for.