The careless disposal of waste may generate tremendous environmental and social impacts. For the treatment of landfill leachate, biological and physic-chemical treatments are routinely used. Chemical precipitation using calcium hydroxide has been used with great effectiveness in treating effluent with high concentrations of organic compounds and heavy metals. The leachate used in this study was collected from a flow box of the Muribeca landfill, located in the city of Jaboatão Guararapes, PE. Commercial calcium hydroxide was used as coagulant in aqueous solution. The experiment was implemented using a fractional factorial design, followed by a complete planning 24. It was observed that the lowest turbidity and color were obtained at the highest flocculation speeds. Color removal was favored by long flocculation time whereas this did not occur for turbidity removal. For the optimal point, a reduction of 52% of the color and a NTU turbidity within the standards established in Brazilian Laws (CONAMA 357/05 and CONAMA 430/11) were obtained.
sanitary landfill; leachate; coagulation; flocculation