Browsing by Author "Kebede, Eyob Mulugeta"
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- Exploring agricultural waste as raw material for the production of bioflocculantsPublication . Kebede, Eyob Mulugeta; Costa, Ana M. Rosa da; Teixeira, Margarida RibauPlant derived materials can be applied in water clarification since they reduce the use of chemically based coagulants. This study aims to evaluate the use of powders (particle size ≤ 0.5 mm) of pine needles, spent coffee ground, almond shell and banana tree bark, as well as their extracts, as coagulants for municipal wastewater treatment, in order to remove turbidity. A representative model municipal wastewater was synthesized in the laboratory, presenting a turbidity ranging from 50 to 130 NTU. Jar-tests were performed using this model synthetic wastewater and either a commercial aluminum-based coagulant-flocculant, for comparison purposes, or the prepared materials. As results showed no turbidity removal, banana tree bark powder was physically and physico-chemically treated in order to obtain suspensions of cellulose microfibrils. Both the powder and the microfibrils were chemically modified by reaction with glycidyltrimethylammonium chloride (GTMAC). These materials were tested as coagulant-flocculants to check their potential on turbidity removal. Physico-chemically treated banana tree bark powder with particle size between 25 and 100 μm showed a modest result, with a turbidity removal efficiency of 36.5%. Finally, the GTMAC cationized cellulose microfibrils removed 78.8% of the synthetic wastewater turbidity. When this coagulant was tested in a real wastewater, the result was quite similar, as 79.7% of turbidity was removed.