Authors:

Ethan Patrick Connolly

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About Paper:

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) landfills are sources of several environmental pollutants, one of which is landfill leachate, the water that flows through the landfill and collects traces of the materials within the landfill. While leachate has been extensively researched in terms of its pollution potential as well as how its general composure changes with various factors such as age and climate, the recovery of critical metals from the landfill leachate remains insufficiently explored. Critical metals are defined as materials such as rare earth elements and heavy metals that can often be found in e-Waste and are both in high demand and in short supply globally. This research addresses the problem of inefficient recovery methods of critical metals from leachate and seeks to understand the behavior of these metals with certain redox and pH sensitive ions such as nitrite, nitrate, ammonium, and sulfate. These ions are targeted due to their known tendency to form complexes with critical metals in leachate. The methods used in this research involve collecting landfill leachate samples from across the United States and analyzing their composition using Ion Chromatography (IC). This method provides information on the concentration of ions in leachate which will, in turn, provide information on the likely behavior and state of critical metals in the leachate. Results from this research will eventually inform the design of recovery systems for critical metals in leachate, laying the groundwork for their mass recovery and reuse. Keywords: Landfill; Leachate; Resource Recovery; Speciation; Redox-Sensitive Ions

Source:

Purdue University / 2025

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No topics listed

Co-authors:

Ethan Patrick Connolly