VSEP Solves Landfill Leachate in Columbia

Written on March 1, 2016

The City of Buga in Colombia has a small landfill that serves the entire city. There was only a very small space left for putting trash and the projection was that it would run out of space in about 4 months. The Presidente Landfill asked authorities to open a new area on its property for trash disposal. The regulators told them that in order to give them a permit, they must install equipment to treat the landfill leachate. In addition, the existing storage ponds for leachate were nearly at capacity. Production of more Leachate would have required construction of more storage ponds.

A gas to energy project is also planned for this site. The first phase would be gas extraction with flares to burn the gas. The next phase would be installation of electrical gas-fired   generators   to   make   electricity. Prior to getting permitting for this project, leachate treatment was also required. While the trash in the landfill needs to be moist so that   bacteria   can   convert   organics   to methane, there cannot be too much liquid (leachate) in the trash or the rate of gas extraction would be impaired.

Process Description

A full –scale VSEP system was installed at this site using three of the large 84” VSEP modules. Since the filtrate would be used for land irrigation, only a single pass with RO was required. Other VSEP installations would also include a second stage RO spiral polishing system to make water that would meet surface water discharge requirements.  But in this case, Ammonia, COD, and other contaminants were sufficiently removed with just one pass through the VSEP RO system.

For more information click Syngineering – Buga Columbia Landfill Leachate

← Back to News