Treatment of waste water by coagulation and flocculation using biomaterials

The present study deals with the determination of physical and chemical parameters in the treatment process of waste water by flocculation and coagulation processes using natural coagulants and assessing their feasibility for water treatment by comparing the performance with each other and with a synthetic coagulant. Initial studies were done on the synthetic waste water to determine the optimal pH and dosage, the activity of natural coagulant, followed by the real effluent from tannery waste. The raw tannery effluent was bluish-black in colour, mildly basic in nature, with high COD 4000mg/l and turbidity in the range 700NTU, was diluted and dosed with organic coagulants, AloeVera, MoringaOleifera and Cactus (O.ficus-indica). The study observed that coagulant Moringa Oleifera of 15 mg/L dose at 6 pH gave the best reduction efficiencies for major physicochemical parameters followed by Aloe Vera and Cactus under identical conditions. The study reveals that the untreated tannery effluents can be treated with environmental confirmative naturally occurring coagulants.