REDUCE OFFSITE
TRUCKING
PFAS REMOVAL
& TREATMENT
ZERO LIQUID
DISCHARGE
EVAPORATORS & CRYSTALLIZERS
Landfill Leachate Treatment
landfill leachate is produced by residual water and precipitation passing through degrading waste deposits. It presents unique challenges for water treatment. Depending on the age and type of landfill, leachate contains a mixture of organic and inorganic substances such as sulfates, nitrates, chlorides, ammonia, heavy metals, PFAS and other substances.
Flow rates and treatment goals can vary widely and impact treatment decisions. For example, a larger flow plant may benefit from multiple unit operations to optimize costs, while smaller flows could be treated with a single solution. Every case is different. We bring our leachate treatment experience to your benefit, helping you understand your options and costs.
Leachate Treatment Options
Biological processes such as MBBR/MBR are widely used to remove organics and ammonia from landfill leachate. Ultrafiltration can remove total suspended solids. Neither remove salts that make up total dissolved solids (TDS)—our speciality. Options for TDS removal include:
- XtremeRO for reverse osmosis capable of concentrating brines to 130,000 mg/L to minimize your waste stream
- Flex EDR to remove chlorides via monovalent electrodialysis reversal
- SaltMaker evaporator crystallizer family to further concentrate and solidify brines, without air emissions to atmosphere
Our solutions are compact, modular, and pre-packaged to minimize site installation costs. We partner with the best for biological treatment—if required—and your local contractors for integration. We can help you understand your options, costs, risks, and how to meet regulatory requirements including options for zero liquid discharge.
PFAS
PFAS (Perfluoroalkyls and Polyfluoroalkyls) chemicals are widely used in consumer and industrial products and have become a serious issue in landfill leachate. These “forever chemicals” do not naturally degrade and are receiving increasing attention.
New advances in desalination technologies can help reduce PFAS treatment and disposal costs: ultra-high pressure reverse osmosis systems (UHP RO) such as XtremeRO/NF, minimal liquid discharge (MLD) and zero liquid discharge (ZLD) solutions such as our SaltMaker family. Saltworks can help with PFAS problems, integrating solutions into existing or new wastewater processes.
Case Study: SaltMaker MultiEffect Evaporator Crystallizer Treatment of Landfill Leachate
Our SaltMaker MultiEffect evaporator crystallizer has been proven on multiple raw landfill leachates and leachate RO brines. You can read about its success in our case study. In it, our SaltMaker solution reduced landfill leachate volume, generating highly concentrated brine or solids for return to landfill. Brine concentrations in excess of 30% solids-by-mass (outside reverse osmosis range) were increased to over 60%. Our Saltmaker customers benefit from:
- Automation, with intelligent self start/stop/cleaning
- Maintainability, with built‐in automated cleaning cycles, no pressure vessels, no confined spaces, readily removable modules.
- No pre-treatment requirements, and more.
Landfill Leachate Related Products
XtremeRO/NF Brine
Concentrator
Next-generation water-maker and brine-concentrator based on reverse osmosis that achieves extreme freshwater recoveries, enabling cost-effective brine management and treatment of challenging organic-laden waters including oil & gas produced waters.
Flex EDR
Selective
Flex EDR is an advanced electrodialysis reversal (EDR) system, leveraging our next generation ion exchange membranes. It requires less pre-treatment, tolerates oils and organics, selectively removes ions and uses fewer chemicals.
SaltMaker
AirBreather
The first evaporator-crystallizer with no atmospheric contact, important for water with volatile organics. Choose between no liquid water return or clean water that is safe for discharge.
SaltMaker
MultiEffect
Modern, modular, and intelligently automated evaporator-crystallizer that concentrates brine or produces low volume solids for zero liquid discharge.
Landfill Leachate Related Resources
Landfill Leachate Treatment: High Recovery and ZLD Results
Saltworks Technologies Inc. (Saltworks) completed an end-to-end zero liquid discharge (ZLD) and zero air emission off-site pilot to treat concentrated reverse osmosis leachate brine from a municipal landfill in China.
Treating Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Contaminated Wastewater and Landfill Leachate
PFAS chemicals are often referred to as “forever chemicals” since they do not naturally degrade. PFAS are detected in wastewaters and landfill leachate due to their widespread uses in consumer and industrial products. They have made their way into some water supplies.
Ultra High Pressure Reverse Osmosis for Landfill Leachate
Reverse osmosis (RO) is the best available technology to treat landfill leachate for surface discharge. Possible trace volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and ammonia emerging in the RO permeate can be removed with a polishing step to meet the highest discharge standards.
Anaerobic Digester Wastewater Management During Biogas Production
Digester wastewaters are by-products of biogas production in anaerobic digesters. They require treatment prior to disposal. To meet regulation compliance, treatment options range from minor interventions such as selective contaminant removal, to major interventions such as minimum and zero liquid discharge (MLD/ZLD).