Treatment system for landfill leachate

DETAILED DESCRIPTION In general, the invention consists of a biological living-filter system for treatment of sanitary landfill leachate.
Sanitary landfill facilities are utilized to provide for proper waste disposal; however, in recent years a growing problem has been shown to confront sanitary landfill operations, that of, toxic leachate production and its consequential environmental impact.
Water entering a sanitary landfill, from precipitation, filters through the refuse and produces a toxic leachate composed of organic and inorganic molecules.
Available oxygen is initially consumed and further waste decomposition progresses anaerobically.
Anaerobic bacterial fermentation produces organic alcohols and acids as byproducts.
Additionally, metals are reduced to their ionic state.
The invention consists of a biological system for treatment of sanitary landfill leachate with the primary functional detoxifying embodiments being leachate tolerant plant micro-organisms, and cationic exchange sites on organic media.
A leachate tolerant plant, reed canary grass (Phalaris grundinacea) was selected for use because of its effective absorption of heavy metals into its tissues, its tolerance to saturated environment, as well as production of oxygen as part of its natural metabolic activities.
The organic carbon compounds of the leachate solution attenuate poorly in most soils, and are therefore prone to migrate in groundwater.
However, organic compounds provide a substrate for microbial growth in the living-filter system.