Abstract:
Three coagulants viz. alum, FeClG₃, and Moringa oleifera seed extract were compared for treating municipal wastewater. The wastewater samples were collected from a drain near the Murree Road in Abbottabad city. The initial treatment depicted that alum was a suitable coagulant, while the other two caused color development and increased chemical oxygen demand in the effulent. Subsquently, wastewater samples were treated with graded concentrations (4-32 mg.L-¹) of alum in batch series, and shacked at 600-620 rpm for five minutes. The treated samples were analyzed for various water quality parameters to examine the effective coagulation and flocculation process in the wastewater. There was an increase in TDS and electrical conductivity with the increasing levels of alum above the optimized values (22 to 30 Mg L-¹). The proposed primary treatment strategy of wastewater treatment with alum is suitable for reducing the pollutants load in the sewer system.
