Reuse of Fruit Waste as Biopolymeric Flocculant and Optimizing Turbidity Reduction: Comparison Study with Industrial Flocculant

Abstract

The performance of two flocculants on turbidity reduction was studied. The two flocculants were: a biopolymeric flocculant which was extracted from fruit waste and a commercial industrial flocculant. The effect of the flocculants’ average molecular weight on turbidity treatment, the treatment efficiency of both flocculants and the flocculants’ degradability were investigated. Response surface methodology was carried out using Box Behnken design to find the optimal pH, cation concentration, and flocculant dosage to maximize the turbidity reduction. The results showed that the maximum turbidity reduction by industrial flocculant occurs between pH 7.5 and pH 8.2, cation concentration between 0.02 and 0.06 mM, and industrial flocculant dosage between 6.5 and 8.0 mg/L. While with biopolymeric flocculant, maximum turbidity reduction occurred between pH 4.6 and pH 7.5, cation concentration between 0.60 and 0.95 mM, and biopolymeric flocculant dosage between 4 and 6 mg/L.