Utilization of Natural Coagulants in municipal
wastewater
treatment and comparison analysis study and macrofloc analysis
study
submitted
By
Mr. Parth G Manakikar
Guided by-Ms. Bhumika Mistry
Assistant Professor
PGKM’s Haribhai V. Desai College of Arts,Science and Commerce,Pune-02
A Dissertation
Submitted to the Dept. of Environmental Science
Savitribai Phule Pune University
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the degree of Masters in Environmental Science
(M.Sc. Environmental Science)
For the year 2019-2020
Through
PGKM’s Haribhai V. Desai College of Arts,Science and Commerce,Pune-02
Acknowledgement
I thank Haribhai.V.Desai college for providing the various necessary equipment in the
research lab and would like to thank my guide Ms.Bhumika Mistry for providing me with the
necessary insights and knowledge regarding the topic of my project and would also extend my
thanks to the Dept. of Environmental Science for also helping me with my project and last but
not the least would like to thank the staff of MITCON labs,Agricultural College dor providing
me with some of the above graphs and tabulated data and percentage based data which was
utilized in my comparison graphical analysis and for providing me with the floc analysis data
even during the pandemic lockdown phase and would also extend my thanks to Mr. Aniket
Taware at MITCON food and hygiene lab for providing me with the tabulated parametric
analysis data.
Declaration
I declare that this thesis is an original report of my research, has been written by Parth
G manakikar under the guidance of Ms.Bhumika Mistry and has not been submitted for any
previous degree. The experimental work is almost entirely my own work; the collaborative
contributions of my college H.V. Desai College and MITCON lab has been clearly stated in
my report.
Certificate
This is to certify that the thesis tiled “utilization of natural seed based coagulants in
wastewater treatment” has been submitted by Mr. Parth G Manakikar at the Dept of
Environmental Science towards partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Master’s
degree in Environmental Science.This is the Bonafide work of the student.
Mr. Pranay Abhang
Main Guide
Course Coordinator and Asst. Professor
Ms. Bhumika Mistry
H.V. Desai College
Assistant Professor
H.V. Desai College
Date:10th June 2020
Seal:
Index
Sr
No
Title
Page No
1)
Introduction
1-2
2)
Objectives
3-5
3)
Material and Methods
6-9
4)
Results and Discussion
10- 14
5)
Conclusion
15
6)
References
19
utilization of natural seed based coagulants in wastewater treatment
Parth Manakikar.Ms. Bhumika Mistry
Department of Environmental Science,The P.G.KM.s Haribhai V.Desai College,Pune02
Abstract
Water is one of the most important and basic human need and nowadays the availability of
natural potable/drinkable water is scarce and as most of the treated wastewater is added or
released back into the same river which provides water for various domestic purposes and is
also utilized as a main source of drinking water and hence when wastewater is treated with the
help of synthetic chemical coagulants used especially in the settling tanks during the treatment
process and as industrialization increases it results in the degradation of the water quality as it
results in the increase in turbidity of the water and decrease in the levels of dissolved oxygen
which hence results in smothering of aquatic life in the water and hence degradation of the
water body and hence this use of natural seed based coagulant is not only cost effective but are
also biodegradable in nature and the sludge formed as a result is less toxic and can be disposed
off easily and the treated water contains lesser metalloid toxoids such as aluminium,iron,zinc
etc. Moringa olifeira,zea mays,pisum satavium,okra,red kidney beans,black eyed peas and
black gram are utilized and the speed of mixing and pH variance and dosage variance is
maintained in each and every beaker and hence the RPM variation is vey important for the
coagulation and flocculation and precipitation of the various inorganic and organic solids in
the wastewater samples.
Keywords-Moringa olifeira,zea mays,pisum satavium,red kidney beans,black eyed peas and
black gram,optimum speed of mixing,pH variance,dosage variance,coagulation,floculation
1)Introduction
My project topic is mostly about the usage of natural plant based coagulants for industrial
wastewater treatment. The waster utilized will be mostly grey water form aluminium dye cast
industry and the wastewater sample taken will be from an inlet source of the treatment facility
before the wastewater is treated in an on-site effluent treatment plant.
The use of seeds as natural plant based herbal coagulant is the newest technique in
wastewater treatment and can replace the synthetic polymeric chemicals/inorganic chemical in
the coming years. The presence of inorganic metalloids in treated wastewater which when
released into the environment can pose a lot of problems for the people who depend on that
water supply for domestic usage and drinking purposed and as a result there is a steep
degradation of the water quality and such dissolved metalloids are proven to have carcinogenic
properties resulting in neurotoxicity(Muruganandam et al., 2017) hence such natural treatment
method is both useful for the environment and for the populations as a whole as it ensures
decline in BOD,COD,TDS and metalloid concentrations in water which will be proven in
accordance with comparative analysis study with the help of graphical representation. The dye
cast industry wastewater was sampled at the inlet section and the collected wastewater samples
were further analysed and the data was collected and analysed with the help of jar test
apparataus.The parameters that were analysed were pH, EC,BOD,COD,metal (Muruganandam
et al., 2017)
concentrations(As,Mn,Pb,Zn,Mg),TSS,TDS,DO and the seeds consisted of Moringa
olifeira,zea mays,leguminose seeds such as black gram, red beans and okra seeds and the
synthetic polymeric coagulants were aluminium sulphate and poly aluminium chloride(PAC)
and hence the varied doses of both the seed extract and the chemical coagulants were added to
the wastewater and comparative analysis was done. Macrofloc assessment was also done to
find out about the floc strength and floc area and there has been a research gap in this field of
microfloc analysis which can help us understand further efficiency of the seed extract in the
turbidity removal/reduction.
The need for such type of treatment processes is very important in today’s industries as an
efficient and cleaner and a more sustainable plant based natural coagulation technique will
result in cleaner and less turbid treated water as opposed to the chemicals utilized in the ETP
processes in almost every industry nowadays especially automobile industries, metalwork
industries. Hence the various safe environmental aspects or significance of this method are
mostly the cleaner treatment process,30% turbidity removal was achieved(Balamurugan &
Shunmugapriya, 2019) in some research papers and the ability of the natural coagulants to
destroy the polymeric monomers which results in less neurotoxic properties of the treated water
as due to the efficient bridging process and sweep coagulation hence resulting in an efficient
treatment process which shows results.
The use of chemical alum is being scrutinized today as it’s continuous use has been linked
to many diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease(Engineering & College, 2011) due to its highly
toxic sludge production capacity and due to the fact that aluminium remains suspended in the
water that has been treated due to the continuous use of chemicals like alum and due to the
high turbidity removal efficiency of natural seed based coagulants has been proved to be
21%,83% and 90% in some cases(Choy et al., 2015) and that many seed based coagulants like
arachis hypogea are extremely efficient coagulants(Ramesh et al., 2016).
2) Objectives
1) To find out how much optimum dosage is required for efficient
treatment process
2) comparing and analysing the efficiency of the natural coagulants utilized
3)To determine the rotations per minute(RPM) while mixing the samples and the optimum
natural extract dosage variation
3) Materials and Method
The materials required for the experiments mostly consists of beakers,COD digestor,DO
bottles,jar test apparataus,stirrer,dried seed extract(oven dried and sun dried),pH meter,
conductivity
meter(EC),synthetic
polymeric
coagulants
like
aluminium
sulphate(alum),polyaluminium chloride(PAC),pH buffer tablets to ensure that there is a
variance in pH of the different samples
The methodology utilized here involves the utilization of coagulation and flocculation at
different rpm with the use of jar test apparatus and to mechanically reduce the seeds into
powder form and then extracting the powder into water ie. water extraction and then followed
by precipitation and sedimentation.The rotation speed is varied for different samples for eg 200
rpm speed and the ph level is optimized in every single sample with the use of pH buffer tablets
and after the slow mixing and fast mixing of samples at different rpm and hence most of the
parametric analysis for the reduction of BOD,COD,turbity and TSS and TDS shows us the
efficiency of the extract and a tabulated data is obtained which indicates the difference in the
parametric values and with the usage of the tabulated data many graphical tables can be created
which consists of values obtained for the natural extract vs the values obtained for the chemical
coagulants and hence the reduction efficiency and other inference can be drawn with regards
to the data obtained
The next analysis involves the analysis of the flocs or aggregates which also helps in the
clear deduction and analysis of the success of the experimentation as macrofloc formation and
its characterization is essential in the understanding of the bridge formation mechanism and
the research into the efficiency of the aggregation process gives a better understanding of the
efficiency of the natural seed based coagulant extract and this analysis is done after the
coagulation-flocculation jar test hence the various methodologies involved in the parametric
analysis of the wastewater samples prior to the jar testing are the various Indian standard
methodologies which are utilized for the metal concentration analysis,BOD,COD,TSS,DO and
PH analysis is also done in accordance with these IS methodologies.The natural seed extract is
required which consists okra,zea mays,moringa olifeira,pisum satavium,red kidney beans and
black gram and is a carefully prepared with the help of a grinder and then this powder extract
is filtered and sieved and washed with NaCl and stored in proper airtight containers and the
wastewater utilized in this project work is from the PMC wastewater/effluent treatment plant
located in shivajinagar and the samples consist of the untreated inlet waster and also the treated
outlet water samples are utilized for the analysis of metal concentration reduction along with
pH analysis,BOD and COD reduction and the increase/decrease of the dissolved oxygen level
in the water will determine if the natural coagulants are efficient or not and the clarity of the
water/turbidity removal is also another important parameter which has to be analysed and this
is indicated with the help of a line graph,bar graph and a pie chart so as to perform comparative
analysis study which is further analysed and the inference/conclusion is reached.
The materials required for this study includes a jar test apparataus,pH
apparataus,conductivity meter,turbidity meter,14 500ml beakers, whattmans filter
paper,pipette,burette,DW,seed extract,synthetic chemical coagulants(PE,PAC,aluminium
sulphate or alum,ferric chloride).
Filtered and sieved M.Olifeira powder
Commented [P1]:
Commented [P2R1]:
Filtered and seived Okra powder
5)Results and discussion
The analysis of the wastewater samples enables us to draw an inference with regards to the
potential decrease of tubitdity,dissolved solids,BOD,COD decrease and the increase in the the
dissolved oxygen levels and decrease in metalloid concentration and graphical data analysis
should give us a clear picture of the toxicity removal efficiency of the seed extract and the
amount of dosage required,pH variance required and the various values are indicated in terms
of percentage reduction and hence the most efficient seed extract is estimated with the help of
graphical comparative analysis and the effect of natural extracts on the pH of the water sample
is observed and the increase in acidity or basicity of the samples is also estimated and macrofloc
analysis and charecterization is also discussed which gives us the percentage efficiency of the
entire process.
Table1)Pretreatment data of municipal water samples
Tests
Municipal water
1)
pH
7
2)
Hardness(ppm)
285
3)
BOD(mg/l)
134.32
4)
COD(mg/l)
320.30
5)
Turbidity(NTU)
26
6)
TSS(mg/l)
228.21
7)
TDS(mg/l)
715.75
Table 2) After treatment with Moringa Olifeira
Sr
Municipal water
Tests
Dosage
500 mg
200 mg
50 mg
1)
pH
7.56
7.49
7.47
2)
Hardness(ppm)
238
249
262
3)
BOD(mg/l)
61.3
69.16
72.4
4)
COD(mg/l)
110.41
135.6
146.3
5)
Turbidity(NTU)
21
16
16
6)
TSS(mg/l)
46.04
47.8
49.6
7)
TDS(mg/L)
174.90
175.94
177.97
Scatter Diagram representing effect of M.Olifeira on Municipal water
Bar graph representation of the effect of M.Olifeira on MW
Table 3)After treatment with okra
Sr
No
Water
Municipal Wastewater
Tests
Dosage
500mg
200mg
50mg
1)
pH
7.66
7.57
7.41
2)
Hardness(ppm)
243
251
267
3)
BOD(mg/L)
61.3
69.14
72.4
4)
COD(mg/L)
88.1
93.3
105.5
5)
Turbidity(NTU)
18
21
23
6)
TSS(mg/L)
59.6
60.8
67
7)
TDS(mg/L)
189.2
191.3
197.3
Effects of Okra on MW
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
0
1
2
3
4
Sr No
5
6
7
8
Water Tests
Municipal Wastewater
Dosage 500mg
Municipal Wastewater
Dosage 50mg
Municipal Wastewater
Dosage 200mg
Scatter diagram representing effects of okra on MW over different dosage
ranges ie. 50mg,200mg and 500 mg respectively
9
Bar Graph representation showing after treatment effect of municipal
wastewater
samples
with
Okra
seed
powder
Effect of Okra on MW
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
1
2
3
4
Sr No
5
6
Municipal Wastewater
Dosage 500mg
Municipal Wastewater
Dosage 50mg
Municipal Wastewater
Table 4)After Treatment with Alum
Sr
No
7
Water Tests
Water
Municipal Wastewater
Tests
Dosage
500mg
200mg
50mg
1)
pH
4.63
5
5.3
2)
Hardness(ppm)
240
257
269
3)
BOD(mg/L)
36.170
52.156
65.2
4)
COD(mg/L)
124.3
140.14
152.20
Dosage 200mg
8
5)
Turbidity(NTU)
16
18
20
6)
TSS(mg/L)
51.3
52.5
55.8
7)
TDS(mg/L)
180.95
184
186
effect of alum on MW at separate dosage
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
pH
1)
Hardness(ppm) BOD(mg/L)
2)
COD(mg/L)
Turbidity(NTU)
4)
5)
3)
Municipal Wastewater
Dosage 500mg
Municipal Wastewater
Dosage 50mg
Municipal Wastewater
TSS(mg/L)
TDS(mg/L)
6)
7)
Dosage 200mg
Bar graph representation of effects of alum on municipal wastewater
effect of alum on MW at separate dosage
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
0
1
2
3
Municipal Wastewater
Dosage 500mg
Municipal Wastewater
Dosage 50mg
4
5
Municipal Wastewater
6
7
8
Dosage 200mg
Scatter Graph representation of effects of alum at separate dosage
5.1)Effect on pH:from the given table below we can see that the effect on pH with the separate
dosage treatment or variance of dosage of M.Olifeira and Okra has no effect of the pH of the
municipal wastewater samples and the pH variance of the wastewater was very low with a
minimal effect on the readings in the beginning that were obtained and in the case of alum the
acidity was found to increase and hence results in the reduction of pH at maximum dosage ie.
500mg and hence more the dosage of alum it results in the excessive presence of aluminium
ions in the water which is also one of the root causes for the increase in acidity of the municipal
wastewater samples
5.2)BOD removal:M.Olifeira has some reduction properties when it comes to BOD(biological
oxygen demand) and as seen from the graphs and tables above we observe that the BOD
removal efficiency of M.Olifeira was found to be 48%,50% and respectively at a varied
dosage(500mg,200mg and 50mg).Okra as a natural coagulant gives us a removal efficiency of
30%,33%, and as for alum we see BOD reduction of 50%, and 63% respectively.It was hence
conclude that when the dosage was increased or varied to a greater extent in terms of mg it
resulted in BOD removal at an elevated rate.
Graphical representation of BOD reduction in Municipal wastewater for
M.Olifeia,Okra and alum respectively for serveral dosage ranges
5.3)COD removal:M.Olifeira has a COD reducing property and the percentage of reduction
shows variance in accordance with the several dosage ranges and we get percentage values of
COD(chemical oxygen demand) reduction.Hence the values obtained are 52% and 55% COD
removal efficiency respectively and for Okra we get 64% and 68% COD removal efficiency
whereas alum gives us a removal efficiency of 50% and 49% and hence it is concluded that
okra as a natural coagulant gives a better COD reduction efficiency.
COD removal efficiency at varying doses
5.4)TDS(total Dissolved solids):It was found that the removal efficiency of the various
dissolved solids in the municipal wastewater samples was found to be 74% and 71% for
M.Olifeira and foe Okra the reduction efficiency in terms of percentage was found to be 75%
and 72.8% respectively and for alum the removal rates are 63% and 70% respectively which
indicates that Okra as a natural coagulant is more effective and has a better reduction efficiency
in comparison with other natural and synthetic coagulants.
5.5)TSS(total suspended solids):It is hence concluded that the TSS removal efficiency of
M.Olifeira is 85% and is significantly higher than the Okra coagulant ie. 70% and 72%
respectively whereas the alum removal efficiency of suspended solids was found to be 65%
and 71% respectively hence it is concluded in comparison analysis study that solid removal is
more efficient with the use of a natural coagulant as opposed to a synthetic polymeric coagulant
and hence there is a sure guarantee of utmost purity of the treated municipal water which is
then deemed fit for consumption
5.6)Macrfloc analysis:After the process of coagulation and flocculation we have observed that
the Macrofloc formation is observed after the addition of natural as well as synthetic coagulants
and it is observed that the flocs which are formed as a result of polymeric bridging effect show
significant thickness and are closely bound together when natural coagulants are utilized and
in the case of M.Olifeira and Okra I observed significant and dense floc formation which
indicates that the TDS and TSS removal efficiency of these are very high hence after skimming
or removing these flocs significant reduction of dissolved and suspended solids was found in
contrst to the synthetic chemical based coagulants like alum and PAC(poly aluminium
chloride) the thickess of the flocs and its density was low and scattered flocs were observed
and its efficiency was only 65% as opposed to the efficiency of both the natural coagulants
which was 72% and 76% resp with okra showing more promise when it comes to dense and
tight flocs which are formed.
6)Conclusion
As observed from above graphical and tabulated representation which showed that the the
removal
efficiencies of Natural coagulants which I utilized when it comes to
TSS,TDS,BOD,COD,total hardness and the variance of pH in both simulated as well as the
municipal waste water from PMC(pune municipal corporation) at several dosage ranges such
as 50mg,200mg and 500 mg respectively and the various values that were obtained in the
MITCON labs during analysis were duly converted to percentages and the percent conversion
showed/indicated better efficiency rates as far as M.Olifiera and Okra seed powders are
considered as opposed to synthetic chemical coagulants and further macrofloc analysis study
also showed promise as far as efficiency of these natural coagulants and they have a better
prospect in the future as we are now more focussed towards environment and the availability
of fresh water is also a basic human right which is free from dissolved contaminants and metals
and chemicals and it was also found that the aluminium ion concentration was far higher in
municipal wastewater treated with the use of chemical coagulants such a as alum and ingestion
of these metals which is carcinogenic in nature is not only harmful for the fishes and the various
aquatic plants but also for the people who consume this water or utilize it for cooking and
bathing purposes.
6)References
1)Choy, S. Y., Prasad, K. M. N., Wu, T. Y., & Ramanan, R. N. (2015). A review on common
vegetables and legumes as promising plant-based natural coagulants in water clarification.
International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, 12(1), 367–390.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-013-0446-2
2)Ramesh, S., Sudarsan, J. S., & Jothilingam, M. (2016). Low cost natural adsorbent
technology for water treatment. Rasayan Journal of Chemistry, 9(3), 325–330
3)Balmurugan,P.,&Shunmugapriya,K. (2019). Treatment of urinal waste water using natural
coagulants. International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering, 8(2), 355–362.
https://doi.org/10.35940/ijrte.B1478.07821
4)S, V. M. P., Ramamohan, H., & Rao, B. S. (2017). Assessment of Coagulation Potential of
Three Different Natural Coagulants in Water Treatment. IV(Xii), 7–9.
5)Baptista, A. T. A., Silva, M. O., Gomes, R. G., Bergamasco, R., Vieira, M. F., &
Vieira, A. M. S., 2017.Protein fractionation of seeds of Moringa oleifera lam and its
application in superficial water treatment. Separation and Purification Technology,
180, 114-124
6)Deeba, F., Abbas, N., Butt, T., Imtiaz, N., Khan, R. A., & Ahsan, M. M.,2015. Utilization of
Moringaoleifera seeds for treatment of canal and industrial waste water-an alternative
sustainable solution fordeveloping countries. Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental
Sciences (JBES), 7(1), 54-60.
7) Kansal, S. K., & Kumari, A.,2014. Potential of M. oleifera for the treatment of water and
wastewater. Chemical reviews, 114(9), 4993-5010.
8) Arnoldsson, E., Bergman, M., Matsinhe, N. and Persson, K.M., 2008. Assessment
of drinking watertreatment using Moringa oleifera natural coagulant.Vatten, 64(2),
p.137.