Nitrogen Recovery from Landfill Leachate Using Lab- and Pilot-Scale Membrane Contactors: Research into Fouling Development and Membrane Characterization Effects.

Membrane contactor technology affords great opportunities for nitrogen recovery from waste streams. This study presents a performance comparison between lab- and pilot-scale membrane contactors using landfill leachate samples. Polypropylene (PP) and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) fibers in different dimensions were compared in terms of ammonia (NH 3 ) recovery on a lab scale using a synthetic ammonium solution. The effect of pre-treating the leachate with tannin coagulation on nitrogen recovery was also evaluated. An ammonia transfer on the lab and pilot scale was scrutinized using landfill leachate as a feed solution. It was found that PTFE fibers performed better than PP fibers. Among PTFE fibers, the most porous one (denoted as M1) had the highest NH 3 flux of 19.2 g/m 2 .h. Tannin pre-treatment reduced fouling and increased NH 3 , which in turn improved nitrogen recovery. The mass transfer coefficient of the lab-scale reactor was more than double that of the pilot reactor (1.80 × 10 -7 m/s vs. 4.45 × 10 -7 m/s). This was likely attributed to the difference in reactor design. An analysis of the membrane surface showed that the landfill leachate caused a combination of inorganic and organic fouling. Cleaning with UV and 0.01 M H 2 O 2 was capable of removing the fouling completely and restoring the membrane characteristics.