Characterizations of Municipal Solid Waste Leachate using Column Experiments – Under Semi-Arid Conditions

Abstract

The research aims to characterize the MSW leachate under the Gaza conditions (semi-arid climate), using column method to evaluate the temporal variations of the MSW leachate properties. Therefore three columns were used for extraction of MSW leachate. All the leachate samples were tested for several physical and chemical parameters, which are pH, E.C., TDS, NO₃^-, NH₃, Cl^-, Alkalinity, Hardness, Ca⁺⁺, Mg⁺⁺, K⁺, Na⁺⁺, COD and BOD. The results demonstrated that the characterizations of the extracted leachate found to be in the highest ranges of contamination.  However, the concentration of the contaminants increased with time up to a certain time, and then the concentrations decreased. The study concluded that the extracted leachate characterized, as a very high contaminated leachate. The results that derived from the study suggested that all the effort should be made in order to prevent the arrival of MSW leachate to the groundwater.

Keywords: Gaza Strip; MSW leachate; leachate characterization.