Production of a biodegradable flocculant from cotton and evaluation of its performance in coagulation-flocculation of kaolin clay suspension: Optimization through response surface methodology (RSM)

Abstract

Flocculants are widely used along with coagulant to increase the efficiency of coagulation-flocculation process for removal of colloidal particles from wastewaters. The most widely used flocculants are synthetic which have some problems such as non-biodegradability and release of toxic residual monomers. The main aim of this study is to evaluate the performance of cellulose sulfate (CS), which was synthesized through sulfonation of cotton, as a biodegradable and natural-based flocculant. Reaction time as an important factor in the sulfonation reaction was optimized for obtaining CS with high charge density and suitable fiber size. The sulfate content, charge density (CD) and morphology of each CS were determined to investigate and select the best CS for the flocculation process. A suspension containing kaolin clay was used as a colloidal test solution and coagulation was performed using alum (as a coagulant) and CS (as a flocculant). Optimization was performed using response surface methodology (RSM). The optimization results showed that CS had a good performance in turbidity reduction in coagulation-flocculation treatment and maximum turbidity reduction (98.9%) was obtained at alum dosage of 23.1mg/L, CS dosage of 7.2mg/L and pH 6.2. The results showed that the pH variation had insignificant effect on the CS dosage. Zeta potential measurements and microscopic photos of flocs confirm charge neutralization and bridge formation in flocculation using cellulose sulfate, respectively. Also, the total chemical consumption reduced compared with the use of alum alone. As a consequence, CS can be considered as a suitable alternative for conventional flocculants.