Development of magnetic nano-geocomposite for groundwater and leachate treatment: A Landfill Management Perspective

Landfill leachate, a highly contaminated percolating effluent can cause a considerable threat to human as well as environmental health. We developed a novel nano composite using the polymer encapsulated magnetic geopolymer for efficient removal of multi contaminants (As, Zn, Fe, Co, Cu, Ni, Pb, F, NO 3 - , and PO 4 3- ) present in the landfill leachate and groundwater of the Pirana solid waste dumping site, Ahmedabad, Gujarat. A series of batch and column sorption experiments were carried out to find the best-operating conditions for optimum removal efficiency. Results revealed that in the range of 50-60% of multi-contaminant removal is possible using the newly developed adsorbent which has high surface area as well as mixed functional groups for the removal of both cationic (Zn, Fe, Co, Cu, Ni, and Pb) and anionic (F, NO 3 - , and PO 4 3- ) contaminants present in the leachate. Batch study shows that both physical and chemical sorption are equally operational and multilayer removal following the Freundlich isotherms predominantly. The batch test mimics the equilibrium condition only. The study recommends column study under different follow conditions using leachate and groundwater, followed by a regeneration study for its reusability and development of the field implementation schemes. The future research is required to address the decontamination of emerging contaminants like pharmaceuticals, pesticides and fertilizers, industrial additives and antibacterial agents.