Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment
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Item The efficiency of chitosan as a coagulant in the treatment of the effluents from the Sugar Industry(2015) Pambi, Ritha-Lorette Luti; Musonge, PaulChitosan has been used as a coagulant for industrial wastewater treatment. However, no attention has been given to the coagulation of sugar effluents using this polymer. Two effluent streams from a local sugar refinery, namely the final effluent (FE) and the resin effluent (RE) were treated using chitosan prepared by dissolution in aqueous hydrochloric acid. The optimum chitosan dosage was found to be 138 mg/l and 7.41 mg/l for RE and FE respectively, beyond which, the efficiency of the coagulant decreased. The efficiency of the chitosan was higher under acidic conditions and using sodium hydroxide to adjust the pH negatively affected the performance of the chitosan. The treatment of FE yielded better removal efficiency (97% total suspended solids, 61% colour and 35% chemical oxygen demand) than RE (68% total suspended solids, 30% colour and 15% chemical oxygen demand). This coagulant can be used to pre-treat turbid water for further treatment.Item Influence of effluent type on the performance of chitosan as a coagulant(Akshar Publications, 2014) Pambi, Ritha-Lorette Luti; Musonge, PaulThe use of chitosan as a bio-polymeric coagulant has continued to attract interest in water treatment due to its biodegradability and non-toxicity. Its ability to treat effluents of high organic content has been investigated in some food processing industries. The focus of the present study is to compare results of the use of chitosan in the treatment of effluent from a Sugar Processing Plant (SPP), with those obtained from the treatment of wastewater from a Milk Processing Plant (MPP) and from a Brewery Processing Plant (BPP), in order to determine the influence of effluent type on the impurities removal efficiency. The treatment of the MPP provided the best removal efficiency (99% suspended solids removal and 70% COD removal) in comparison to the SPP (98% suspended solids removal and 11% COD removal) and BPP (95% suspended solids removal and 50% COD removal). The optimum pH value varied as a function of the type of effluent with BPP= 4.5, SPP = 4.5 and MPP =7. The results indicate that chitosan is not very efficient for the removal of dissolved matter. A relationship between total suspended solids (TSS) and total dissolved solids (TDS) has been developed.