Association of trace elements with colloidal fractions in leachates from closed and active municipal solid waste landfills

Leachates from two Czech municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills (closed site and active site) were size-fractionated using the cascade frontal filtration/ultrafiltration procedure with filter cut-offs of 3 μm, 0.8 μm, 0.45 μm, 0.1 μm, 10 kDa and 1 kDa. To evaluate the binding of trace elements to colloidal particles, the filtrates were analyzed for major compounds (FAAS, ICP-OES and HPLC) and trace elements (ICP-MS) and the obtained elemental patterns were statistically evaluated. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) indicated that the colloids were mostly inorganic, mainly composed of carbonates and clays. Characteristic features of the behaviour of trace elements and the main compounds were more pronounced at the active landfill site. Amongst the main compounds, only Fe and Ca decrease significantly and have similar patterns to numerous trace elements, indicating their capture by colloidal particles (at least 25%). Arsenic, Se and Rb exhibit zero or negligible decrease in concentration in the leachate during the filtration procedure. This fact indicates their particularly high mobility, which should be considered in preventing the flux of harmful compounds from landfill systems.