Prediction of Heavy Metal Removal by Different Liner Materials from Landfill Leachate: Modeling of Experimental Results Using Artificial Intelligence Technique

An intensive study has been made to see the performance of the different liner materials with bentonite on the removal efficiency of Cu(II) and Zn(II) from industrial leachate. An artificial neural network (ANN) was used to display the significant levels of the analyzed liner materials on the removal efficiency. The statistical analysis proves that the effect of natural zeolite was significant by a cubic spline model with a 99.93% removal efficiency. Optimization of liner materials was achieved by minimizing bentonite mixtures, which were costly, and maximizing Cu(II) and Zn(II) removal efficiency. The removal efficiencies were calculated as 45.07% and 48.19% for Cu(II) and Zn(II), respectively, when only bentonite was used as liner material. However, 60% of natural zeolite with 40% of bentonite combination was found to be the best for Cu(II) removal (95%), and 80% of vermiculite and pumice with 20% of bentonite combination was found to be the best for Zn(II) removal (61.24% and 65.09%). Similarly, 60% of natural zeolite with 40% of bentonite combination was found to be the best for Zn(II) removal (89.19%), and 80% of vermiculite and pumice with 20% of bentonite combination was found to be the best for Zn(II) removal (82.76% and 74.89%).