Municipal landfill leachate–soil interactions: a kinetic approach

On investigating the effects of municipal landfill leachates on soils, it is found that the adsorption of landfill leachate constituents creates a “new” soil surface able to enhance heavy metal uptake. In particular, the treatment of soil with the total leachates led to an increase in its metal retention capability that was much higher than for each individual fraction. Results show that the leachate sorption on soil is regulated by the presence of leachate constituents with low molecular weight cut-off since these fractions are able to “accelerate” the sorption of higher molecular weight fractions. The rapidly sorbed lower molecular weight fractions create a different soil surface that is able to accommodate the high molecular weight constituents.