Applied Chemical Engineering

Effects of initial turbidity and myco-coagulant dose on the effectiveness of the coagulation process in water treatment

Radhia Nedjai

Cataclysmic Management and Sustainable Development Research Group (CAMSDE), Department of Civil Engineering, Kulliyyah of Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM)

Abdullah Al-Mamun

Cataclysmic Management and Sustainable Development Research Group (CAMSDE), Department of Civil Engineering, Kulliyyah of Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM)

Md Zahangir Alam

Bioenvironmental Engineering Research Centre (BERC), Department of Chemical Engineering and Sustainability, Kulliyyah of Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.59429/ace.v7i2.1546

Keywords: myco-coagulant, coco peat substrate, turbidity removal, turbidity

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Abstract

High turbidity is a pollutant that requires coagulants to be removed from treated water and wastewater. This study was conducted to characterize and analyze the potential of myco-coagulant-producing fungus isolated from the moist area of a kitchen. Myco-coagulant production was carried out using solid-state fermentation using coco peat as a substrate. One factor-at-a-time analysis (OFAT) was carried out to assess the capacity of the produced myco-coagulant in various initial turbidities and myco-coagulant doses. The potential of myco-coagulant was tested using turbid synthetic water with different turbidity levels (50, 100, 150, 200, 250 and 300 NTU). The results showed that turbidity removal by the myco-coagulant was influenced by the initial turbidity. The coagulant was less efficient at low turbidity levels, which was approximately 5% for 50 NTU, while the highest was 52% for 300 NTU water. Furthermore, the results demonstrated that myco-coagulant could remove the highest possible turbidities on day 6 with all initial turbidity values studied in this work. Different myco-coagulant doses ranging from 1 to 10% (v/v) were also used to determine the optimum dose for effective flocculation. The highest turbidity removal of 57% could be obtained at an optimum coagulant dose of 4% (v/v). Like any other commercial coagulant, the residual turbidity value increased at a coagulant dose higher than the optimum dose of 4% (v/v).

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