Removal of Hazardous Lead and Copper Ions from Landfill Leachate Using Kaolinite for Preventing Groundwater Contamination

Abstract The landfill leachate contains high level of heavy metals which ultimately contaminate either groundwater, surface water or both owing to infiltration and surface runoff. These heavy metals have no useful role in human life and may be toxic even at trace concentration and ultimately causes serious health concern. Thus the removal of heavy metals from landfill leachate is necessary and one of the effective ways to minimize the further contamination. In this article Kaolinite is used as an adsorbent to remove lead and copper ions through the batch adsorption process. The maximum removal efficiency of 81.96% was observed for lead and 57.58% for copper with 20 g/l of kaolinite. Thus, it can be observed that kaolinite has a good potential to be used for the removal of heavy metal ions from landfill leachate as it is cost effective, abundant and easily available adsorbent.