Coliform Removal from Municipal Waste Fresh Leachate Using Electrolysis Method with Iron and Copper Electrodes

Aims: Leachate is a type of highly concentrated wastewater containing chemical and microbial contaminants. Leachate discharged in receiving earth and water leads to the diffusion of different types of dangerous environmental pollutions. The aim of this study was to reduce the coliform bacteria in fresh urban leachate through electrolysis equipped by copper-iron combined electrodes. Materials & Methods: In the laboratory-experimental study, 36 fresh leachate samples were prepared from urban solid-waste collecting trucks in Gonabad using standard combined method from July to November 2015. The leachate samples were poured into a closed reactor containing three copper-iron combined electrode pairs. Data was analyzed by SPSS 18 software using oneway ANOVA. Findings: The higher the voltage and reaction time were, the higher the coliform removal was. In 60 minutes, all three voltages removed 100% of microbial pollution. There was a significant difference between the rate of the removed coliforms through different voltages in 15, 30, and 45 minutes (p<0.05). The rates of the removed coliforms in different reaction times were significant in 10V (p=0.001) and 20V (p=0.002). Conclusion: Through the utilization of copper-iron combined electrodes and applied proper voltages, the electro-chemical method can be used as a clean and eco-friendly method to remove the coliform bacteria from fresh leachate.