Semiconductor Wastewater Treatment Using Tapioca Starch as a Natural Coagulant

Mohd Omar Fatehah, Sohrab Hossain, Tjoon Tow Teng

Environmental Technology Division, School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia.
School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Engineering Campus, Seri Ampangan, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia.

DOI: 10.4236/jwarp.2013.511107                

Abstract

The efficiency of using tapioca starch as a natural coagulant on semiconductor wastewater treatment was investigated. The silica content in the wastewater was pH dependent and it was found that the reduction of COD and turbidity occurred at pH between 12 and 14 with measurements below 100 mg/L and 100 NTU respectively. A three-level factorial design experiment in the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was applied to determine the influence of retention time and dosage of the tapioca starch. The parameters studied were chemical oxygen demand (COD), turbidity and total suspended solids (TSS). The R² for turbidity, COD and TSS were 0.92, 0.92 and 0.77 respectively. Results indicate that the dosage of the tapioca starch has a higher influence on COD and turbidity reduction. Tapioca starch as a natural coagulant has shown that the optimum turbidity reduction was 99% at a settling time of 30 minutes with dosage of 0.1 g/L. The COD reduction was achieved at 87% after 60 min of retention time and 0.1 g/L of dosage while higher coagulant dosages reduced the TSS concentration to 10.9 mg/L at retention time between 50 to 60 minutes.

Keywords

Chemical Oxygen Demand; Natural Coagulant; Response Surface Methodology; Semiconductor; Tapioca; Turbidity

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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