Landfill leachate can broadly be defined as the liquid produced from the decomposition of waste and infiltration of rainwater, moisture, snow or other liquids in a landfill. This leachate is a high-strength wastewater that has a major impact and influence on landfill design and its operation. It usually contains:

• high concentrations of ammonia and organic contaminants 
• halogenated hydrocarbons
• heavy metals
• nitrogen compounds
• high concentrations of inorganic salts (mainly sodium chloride, carbonate and sulphate)

Therefore, there is a need to develop reliable and sustainable options to manage leachate generation and treatment effectively over a longer period of time.

• Highest standards in technology
• Highest environmental standards
• Highest safety for the ecosystem
• Highest safety for the population

• the most efficient treatment of landfill leachate is Reverse Osmosis (RO) technology
• advances in membrane technology have allowed the development of RO systems designed specifically for the treatment of leachate
• the Reverse Osmosis (RO) technique aims to extract clean water from the aqueous solution of organic and inorganic contaminants that constitute the landfill leachate
• the most efficient and best in class development is the circular disk membranes of Compentis, these modules have been specially developed for the treatment of highly contaminated waste water 

STAGE 1: PRE-TREATMENT

THE RAW LEACHATE WATER:

• is pumped from the external buffer tank through a coarse filter into the feed tank
• will be conditioned to a pH-value of 6,0 - 6,5 to avoid precipitation
• is pumped by a low-pressure pump (pre-pressure pump) continuously through a sand filter and cartridge filter system

STAGE 2: REVERSE OSMOSIS STAGE 1 WITH CIRCULAR DISC MEMBRANES

• in the first stage (RO1) the organic and/or mineral contaminated raw water of the landfill will be treated
• the design of the equipment is based on the maximum concentration values of the waste water
• this stage is operating at a maximum operation pressure of 65 bars and is equipped with circular disc membranes

STAGE 3: REVERSE OSMOSIS STAGE 2

• the permeate of the RO1 will be polished in an additional membrane stage 
• this stage works at an operation pressure of about 40 bars and is equipped with spiral wound membranes