Simulación computacional del tratamiento de lixiviados del relleno sanitario de Ambato mediante un filtro aeróbico y anaeróbico

Abstract

The leachate is the product of the harvest of solid waste buried in landfills, being highly contaminated, they require treatment before being discharged into the natural environment. The leachate treatment plant in Ambato, on which this study focuses, uses biological methods based on anaerobic and aerobic processes, specifically the UASB reactor and the trickling filter. This research seeks to model and simulate these processes using the COMSOL MULTHYPHYSICS version 5.4 software, applying Darcy's law and physics that describe the behavior of the flow, the transport of species, biological reactions through specific parameters, coefficients and constants to reach a model. the closest to reality. The results obtained through the simulations were compared with the experimental data, achieving a removal of around 60 percent of BOD and COD, an increase in ammonium and phosphate nutrients, and a decrease of more than 90 percent in heavy metals. similar to the real UASB reactor. In the trickling filter, the removal of organic matter has a significant difference since removal percentages higher than 40 are obtained and in practice it does not exceed 9 percent, the same happens with those of nutrients since less than 10 percent is eliminated, the case of heavy metals the opposite occurs since it is reduced even in its entirety. According to the analysis carried out, the importance of the simulation is verified since it can warn of factors or conditions that are affected by the current process.