Nature Environment and Pollution Technology

Abdul Fattah Abu Bakar ¹, Azhar Abdul Halim ¹, Marlia Mohd Hanafiah ¹

Affiliations
1 School of Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, MY

Abstract

This study was conducted to assess the optimization of the coagulation-flocculation process and to investigate the interactive effects of experimental factors in automotive wastewater treatment. Based on the coagulation-flocculation process, an automotive wastewater was treated using polyaluminium chloride as the coagulant and anionic polyacrylamide as the flocculant. Response surface methodology was applied to optimize the operating variables: coagulant dosage, flocculant dosage and pH. We found that the optimum conditions for chemical oxygen demand removal (73.7%) were, a coagulant dosage of 73.3 mg/L, a flocculant dosage of 3.46 mg/L and pH 7.45. The optimum conditions for the removal of heavy metals (Fe, Cr, Cu) were, a coagulant dosage range of 65.26-170.9 mg/L, a flocculant dosage of 5.36 mg/L, and pH 6.13 (with 78.7-99.7% of heavy metals removal). The experimental data and predicted model proved that RSM is a suitable approach for optimizing the coagulation-flocculation process in automotive wastewater treatment.

Keywords

Coagulation-Flocculation, Automotive Wastewater, Polyaluminium Chloride, Anionic Polyacrylamide, Response Surface, Methodology.

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