COAGULATION TREATMENT BY Aluminium Sulphate

Delroy Riva and Silvester Mdege

ABSTRACT: The effect of pH and coagulant dosage on the coagulation

performance of aluminium sulphate with respect to the treatment of Delta

Lagers Effluent was investigated. The evaluation of treatment efficiency of the
optimization of coagulation process was determined by measuring the reduction
of PV. The optimal operational conditions are as follows: initial pH value of 7,
concentration of aluminium sulphate of 40 g.L-1 .

2
MATERIALS AND METHODS

2.1
Materials
Sodium hydroxide pellets and Hydrochloric acid (HCl) reagents were used for
regulating the pH of the effluent samples. Aluminium sulphate has been used as
coagulant.

2.2
PV measurements

All PV measurements were done according to the 4 Hr PV measurement SOP.

2.3
Coagulation experiments

All experiments were carried out on effluent collected from the sedimentation
pit. The test water of 500 ml was transferred into 1.00L beakers. The initial pH
was adjusted to the set value using 32% HCl and Sodium Hydroxide pellets.
The solutions were stirred rapidly during coagulant addition until the coagulant
completely dissolved. The solutions were left to settle for 24 hrs at room
temperature before analyses. After deposition, effluent samples were collected
from 2.00 cm below the solution surface for subsequent measurements. The
clarified water was extracted from the beaker to measure for PV
3.0
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1
Optimization of coagulation

3.1.1
Effects of effluent initial pH

In the coagulation process it is very important to control pH. The aim of this
experiment was to investigate the influence of effluent initial pH on
coagulation efficiency at the predetermined coagulant dosage. Effluent initial
pH was adjusted in the range of 6.5 to 9 as to the acceptable City Council range.
Figure 1 illustrates the effect of effluent initial pH on coagulation efficiency.
The initial sample value had a PV of 206. The result shows that the initial pH
largely influenced PV reduction. At pH 6.5 it showed the most reduction in PV
but pH 7 was used at it is in the City council range. Further increase in pH
showed less reduction in PV.

190
185
180
175
170
PV

165
160
155
150
145
140
6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9 9.5
pH

Fig 1: Variation of PV as a function of pH.

Effects of coagulant dosage

In the coagulation process, coagulant dosage plays an important role in

determining the coagulation efficiency. The experiment was conducted at the
pre-determined water initial pH of 7. The investigated coagulant dosages were
in the range of 10 – 60 g.L-1. . Figure 2 shows the effects of coagulant dosage on
PV. The effluent sample showed traces of kiesulguhr in it.

370

360

350
PV

340

330

320

310
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Dosage g/L

Fig 2 : Effect of coagulant dose( The sample had kiesulguhr)

20

18

16

14
% PV reduction

12

10

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Dosage g/L

Fig 3 : % PV reduction
 120

100

80
PV

60

40

20

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Dosage g/L

Fig 4 : (No Traces of Kiesulguhr in the sample)

50

45

40

35
% PV Reduction

30

25

20

15

10

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Dosage g/L

Fig 5 : % PV Reduction
The effluent sample that had kiesulguhr in it showed reduced percentage PV
removal. The highest PV reduction was 17.1 % and at concentration of 40 g/L
it showed the saturation point which corresponded to 16.7 % reduction.
Another set of samples was analysed that had no kiesulguhr , Fig 4 and 5
showed the reduction of PV for the samples. The dosage of 20g/L also showed
the saturation point and the reduction in PV was 35.6%. Further increase in
dosage showed very minimal change in PV reduction.

CONCLUSION
Coagulation using aluminium sulphate is a suitable process for the removal of
organic matter hence reduction in PV when the operating parameters are
optimized. The optimal operational conditions are as follows: initial pH value
of 7, concentration of aluminium sulphate of 40 g.L-1. Effluent composition is
important as was showed by aluminium sulphate’s reduced PV reduction with
sample composed of Kiesulguhr . Further experiments are still to be conducted
to have a clear indication of the feasibility of using aluminium sulphate on our
effluent like the effect of agitation speed, different sample composition of the
effluent, the effectiveness of the coagulant on samples having very high PVs
and settling time for the samples.