Coag-Flocculation Kinetics of Mucuna sloanei Seed for Phosphorus Removal from Waste Water

Kamoru Akinpelu Babayemi, Okechukwu Dominic Onukwuli, Matthew Chukwudi Menkiti, Akindele Oyetunde Okewale

Department of Chemical Engineering, Anambra State University, Uli, Nigeria.
Department of Chemical Engineering, Landmark University, Omuaran, Nigeria.
Department of Chemical Engineering, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria.

DOI: 10.4236/ajac.2013.412088                

Abstract

Mucuna sloanei (MS) an environmentally friendly biomass was used as a coagulant for treatment of phosphorus containing waste water. The study evaluates the coag-flocculation efficiency of MS and its functional kinetic parameter response to varying pH and dosage of the waste water effluent. Coag-flocculation reaction order α, coag-flocculation rate constant K, and coagulation period τ_1/2 were determined. The maximum coag-flocculation performance (97.4%) is recorded at rate constant, K of 1.24 × 10^-4 l/mg·min, dosage of 400 mg/l, pH of 8 and coagulation period τ_1/2 of 0.100 min while the minimum (61%) is recorded at K of 3 × 10^-5 l/gm·min, dosage 100 mg/l, pH of 2 and τ_1/2 of 8.900 mins. The results confirm that MS coagulant is an effective coagulant obeying the theory of fast coagulation in the conditions of the experiments.

Keywords

Coag-Flocculation; Mucuna slonaei; Phosphorus

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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