Treatment of leachate in South Africa

Enviros has successfully completed treatability trials on leachates from three landfills in South Africa, designing and commissioning two large full-scale leachate treatment plants since 1999.

The first leachate treatment plant site we completed is at the Vissershok Landfill, operated by the Cape Town City Council, and the second is at Mariannhill Landfill, near Durban (Ethekwini).

Full-scale treatment plant in South Africa: Vissershok Landfill

The Vissershok Landfill receives up to 2000 tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) each day from the city of Cape Town, including some low to medium hazardous waste. Up to 80 m³/day of leachate are generated, which have to be treated to very high standards. Pilot trials using SBR treatment technology were provided by Enviros and operated for a significant period to demonstrate nitrification and denitrification processes.

General view of the site with table mountain behind.

The strategy used for treatment incorporated buffering of flows from different phases of the landfill, aerobic biological treatment in an SBR, with final polishing through a reed bed planted with Phragmites. Ammoniacal nitrogen concentrations are routinely reduced from over 1200 mg/l to less than 1.0 mg/l, and COD values are reduced by 50%–60% from raw leachate values of over 2000 mg/l. Treated leachate shows no detectable toxicity when subjected to the Microtox test. The quality of the treated leachate is sufficiently good that the final ‘effluent’ is now used instead of potable water for dust damping across the site.

Our paper, “LANDFILL LEACHATE TREATMENT IN A DEVELOPING COUNTRY: THE SOUTH AFRICAN EXPERIENCE”: P. Novella*, H. Robinson, S. Haider, L. Strachan, S. Last and M. Traut, (*Wasteman Group (Pty) Ltd, Western Cape, PO Box 219 Eppindust 7475) was published in the Proceedings of the Sardinia Symposium 2005.

General view of the leachate treatment plant in the final stage of construction.

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