Magnetic coagulant derived from Cassia fistula seed for real textile wastewater treatment: A pilot-scale study

Abstract

Cassia fistula (C. fistula) seed-derived coagulants have demonstrated substantial potential for treating dye-based wastewater. Such coagulants exhibit notable coagulating-flocculating activity and are environmentally friendly. However, recovering these natural coagulants from aqueous media poses challenges. In this study, we introduce a novel plant-derived magnetic coagulant that is a combination of C. fistula seed gum with magnetic spinel ferrite. This research includes a pilot-scale study to simulate full-scale textile wastewater treatment using this composite. Material characterisations revealed that spherical CoFe2O4 particles could be effectively coated with the active coagulant, C. fistula gum. The saturation magnetisation of the composite, measured at 54.11 emu/g, facilitates its convenient separation from aqueous solutions using an external magnetic field. Bench-scale studies showed that initial pH and coagulant dosage substantially affect the removal efficiency of colour and chemical oxygen demand (COD). In the pilot-scale study, the C. fistula–CoFe2O4 composite demonstrated promising coagulant properties. It achieved a colour removal percentage of 94.0 % with a volume of 30 L and a coagulant dosage of 12.3 g L− 1. Using this coagulation–flocculation process as a primary treatment step, possibly followed by biological or membrane methods, can help meet Vietnamese environmental standards.