Tratabilidad de lixiviados sanitarios: alternativa para el tratamiento de lixiviados generados en el Relleno Sanitario “Romerillos”, cantón Mejía, provincia de Pichincha, mediante procesos de coagulación – floculación.

Abstract

The present curricular integration work evaluated the effectiveness of the coagulation and flocculation treatment, with the use of chitosan, a natural coagulant and, polyaluminum chloride as flocculant, for the removal of polluting load of the leachate from the "Romerillos" sanitary landfill of the Mejía city. The proposed methodology included two stages. The first stage consisted of carrying out a brief descriptive work on the management of urban solid waste in the Mejía city to determine the state of the art in the generation and composition of leachates. The second stage consisted in the development of experimental work through sampling, physicochemical and biological characterization of leachate and the development of jar tests to determinate the optimal coagulant and flocculant dose, optimal pH and speed and time of coagulation, flocculation and sedimentation. The best results were obtained with the application of an optimal dose of 1900 mg/L chitosan and 3900 mg/L of PAC; an unchanged pH of 8,6; fast and slow mixing speeds and times of 200 rpm and 2 min and 40 rpm and 20 min, respectively; and a minimum settling time of 10 min; with turbidity removal percentages greater than 96%. Additionally, the final characterization of the treated leachate was performed to evaluate the removal of the concentration of the 23 selected contamination indicators. Finally, when evaluating compliance with the Environmental Regulations, 57% compliance was obtained with the parameters selected for the discharge of treated leachates to freshwater bodies.