Last modified: 2016-12-08
Abstract
Faisalabad is the third largest city of Pakistan with average daily sewage production of 280 million gallon per day (MGD). According to water and Sewage Authority (WASA), there is a water treatment plant installed having a capacity to treat sewage water up to 20 MGD, which is totally insufficient for Faisalabad division. The remaining 260 MGD water is discharged into two rivers (River Chenab and Ravi) surrounding Faisalabad area. This untreated water results an increase in chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biological oxygen demand (BOD). It also deteriorates the quality of water in the river and surrounding underground water. The availability of fresh water for human consumption is affected due to mixing of untreated water with ground and river water. Various techniques have been developed to treat the water before discharging into environment, one of which is coagulation. In the current research a coagulant aid (Eucalyptus bark) has been identified as an effective addition which results in 11-15% decrease in overall consumption of primary coagulant (Aluminum sulfate). The objective of study was to reduce total suspended solids (TSS) and turbidity from the sewage water using a primary coagulant along with a natural coagulant aid. Maximum TSS removal was achieved using Aluminum Sulfate and Eucalyptus bark as natural coagulant aid at 60 mesh, pH-8, at 1.0 g/L feed rate and temperature 30 °C.