Comparative Study on Natural and Commercial Coagulants: Treatment of Semiconductor Wastewater in Sludge Production and Removal of Heavy Metals
Mohd Omar Fatehah1, Md. Sohrab Hossain2, Tjoon Tow Teng3
1Fatehah Mohd Omar, School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Seri Ampangan, Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia.
2Md. Sohrab Hossain, Division of Environmental Technology, School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia.
3Prof. Tjoon Tow Teng, Division of Environmental Technology, School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia.
Manuscript received on June 05, 2013. | Revised Manuscript received on June 11, 2013. | Manuscript published on June 15, 2013. | PP: 1-8 | Volume-1 Issue-7, June 2013. | Retrieval Number: G0324061713/2013©BEIESP
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© The Authors. Published By: Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: The objective of this study is to determine the coagulation efficiencies on total solids (TS) removal from semiconductor wastewater by applying various locally available starches as natural coagulants. Two commercial coagulants such as alum [Al2(SO4)3·18H2O] and poly aluminium chloride (PAC) were also utilized in this study in order to compare the coagulation efficiency with the natural coagulants. The EDX analysis of the raw semiconductor wastewater showed that it contained silica dioxide (SiO2) with a concentration of 90%. It appeared that the natural coagulants employed in the study have similar coagulation characteristics with the commercial coagulants. However, the natural coagulants possess better metal adsorption capability than the commercial coagulants. A 3 level factorial experimental design was used in the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) analysis and indicated that starches are capable to remove TS from the semiconductor wastewater and the removal performance were almost similar to alum and higher than PAC.
Keywords: Heavy metals, natural coagulants, response surface methodology, semiconductor wastewater, total solids.