Abstract
Inorganic aluminum or iron salts supported with synthetic polymers are commonly used to eradicate colloidal particles from water in coagulation and flocculation processes. Nevertheless, these agents have several disadvantages, such as large volumes of sludge produced or environmental toxicity. Recently biodegradable polymers have been suggested as eco-friendly flocculants for water treatment. This study aimed to investigate the possibilities of using starch and chitosan and their oxidized derivatives as flocculants for filter backwash water treatment. Dialdehyde starch (DST) and dialdehyde chitosan (DCT) were synthesized by periodate oxidization of natural starch from corn and low molecular weight chitosan. The obtained materials have been characterized with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Furthermore, we studied the flocculation properties of polysaccharide flocculants in a series of jar tests. The effectiveness of chitosan and starched-based flocculants was compared to synthetic polymers commonly used to treat iron ions-rich filter backwash water. The environmental aspects of these chemicals, particularly the biodegradability of post-flocculation residues, were also addressed. It was found that oxidized starch and chitosan derivatives can be used as ecological flocculating materials to treat potable water or sludge.
Highlights
Nowadays, water purification in safe drinking water production is one of the most critical problems undertaken by scientists [1,2,3,4]
The obtained derivatives have been characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and biodegradation tests
The analysis shows that the chitosan-based flocculants are more biodegradable than those that are starch-based
Summary
Water purification in safe drinking water production is one of the most critical problems undertaken by scientists [1,2,3,4]. The most frequently used process in classic water treatment systems is filtration [5]. This creates a lot of so-called filter backwash water (FBW), containing colloidal contaminants washed out from the filter bed. FBW is treated in a technological process using an aggregation mechanism to minimize wastewater production. Coagulation and flocculation are commonly used processes in water treatment [6]. These techniques facilitate removing fine particles suspended in the liquid by forming well-defined aggregates that can quickly settle out from the water
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