ABSTRACT
Treatment of industrial wastewater is of utmost importance in order to comply with local discharge standards. Thus, treatment cost and effluent quality are parameters of utmost importance. Beverage industries are contributors to overall wastewater discharges and have been found guilty in some cases of indiscriminate discharges. Conventional chemical coagulants such as aluminium sulphate (alum) alum) have been used to reduce impurities such as turbidity, colour, TSS, etc in water and wastewater. However, due to the high cost of treatment and their associated health implications, coagulants of natural origins must be explored. This study attempts to assess the efficacy of extracts from watermelon seeds in removing turbidity and colour from bev erage wastewater. Watermelon seeds were obtained from the local market at Bodija, Ibadan, Oyo state, Nigeria. They were washed, dried and milled after which the oil content was extracted with the aid of n-hexane using an electro-thermal soxhlet apparatus and the residue was used for the study. Coagulant content was removed from the residue using salt water and filter paper. The efficiency of the coagulant was evaluated using a standard jar test procedure with six paddle flocculator. The test was conducted by varying the concentration (dosage (dosage), ), stirring speed and settling time in three concurrent stages respectively. The physio-chemical analysis of beverage wastewater sample revealed turbidity, colour, pH, Total solids, Total suspended solids, Total dissolved solids, Total alkalinity, salinity and electrical conductivity of 55.4NTU, 140HU, 7.8, 1879mg/L, 1319mg/L, 560mg/L, 105mg/L, 167mg/L and 1351µS/cm respectively. At optimum dosage of 100mg/L, turbidity removal efficiency was 88.8% corresponding to turbidity of 6.2NTU while colour removal efficiency of 96.4% correspond to 5HU. At optimum stirring speed of 100rpm and optimum dosage of 100mg/L, turbidity removal efficiency was 90% while colour removal efficiency remained the same. After a settling time of
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24hrs and optimum dosage of 100mg/L and stirring speed of 100rpm, turbidity and colour values were 4.3NTU and 3HU respectively. There was no significant change in other water quality parameters such as pH, TS, TDS, Total alkalinity, salinity and electrical conductivity. Watermelon seeds can be a potential replacement for conventional chemical coagulants such as aluminium sulphate especially in developing countries where cost of purchasing conventional coagulants is a big problem.
