Abstract

The use of Permeable Reactive Barriers as a material for the removal of heavy metals from the leachates of the Sanitary Landfills has been verified for various materials, the Silica Sand from the coasts of the municipality of Alvarado Veracruz in Mexico have the characteristics of size and composition Required to be used for this purpose, samples of leachate were collected from the Sanitary Landfill of the City of Veracruz and the concentrations of Ni, Cr+6 and Zn were determined were respectively 0.0818, 0.186 and 0.224 mg/l, three columns were built of acrylic and were filled with 20, 30 and 40 cm of washed and dried Silica Sand, treated and stabilized leachate was passed through the porous medium at a flow of 1.7 ml/s, taking samples at 40.75, 115 , 165 and 235 seconds for each column and the efficiency for the removal of these heavy metals was measured and a significant reduction of these pollutants was found, ranging from 76 to 93%. for Nickel, from 44 to 81 % in the case of hexavalent Chromium and from 65 to 92% for Zinc for a maximum time of 235 seconds, which indicates that this material can be used in the remediation of leachate.

Abstract

One of the main problems in Mexico is contamination by leachates that are produced in final waste disposal sites, since they are highly toxic and damage the biota. This research focuses on determining the characteristics of the leachate produced in the uncontrolled final disposal site in the municipality of Tlapacoyan, Veracruz (Mexico). As a result, it was determined that the parameters that cause damage to the biota are total nitrogen (152.759 mg L-1), mercury (0.006 mg L-1), cadmium (0.003 mg L-1), copper (0.052 mg L-1), chromium (0.0731 mg L-1), nickel (0.0524 mg L-1), lead (0.005 mg L-1) and total coliforms (> 2 400 MPN), as they do not meet at least one of the national and international standards of maximum permissible limits. Likewise, it was determined that the leachate produced at this site is of the mature and poorly biodegradable type (BOD/COD=0.018), so that the typical or bioremediation methods are not recommended for its treatment.