Preliminary Study at the Pilot Plant Scale of the Landfill Leachate Inertization Process Based on Dispersed Phase

One of the most complex aspects of the global management of a Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) landfill is the leachates treatment. This liquid is mainly obtained from the degradation of organic matter. This added to other liquids present in the waste, including rainwater and others, constitutes a complex and highly polluted water. There are many techniques available for leachates treatment but the only technique that enables an inert waste to be obtained is inertization. The present article is focused on the study of a new technology for the inertization of leachates derived from landfills. This technology is based on the contact between dispersed phases. A pilot plant was built to undertake the study and with the aim of observing the behavior of the process and its yield. The overall results of this study indicate that this technology facilitates the contact between the flows (leached-reactive), significantly improving the processes of heat transport and mass transfers that take place during the development of the reactions. This allows operating costs to be minimized by reducing the amount of reagents used making the process more attractive from an economic point of view.