A major contributor to pollution of both water bodies, and soil includes unregulated use
of untreated sewage water. Sewage water from households and factories is usually
composed of complex mixture of both organic and inorganic matter can be an effective
carrier of biological pathogen together with toxic metals which are environmentally
damaging as well as to human health. [ CITATION Sad05 \l 1033 ].
Scarcity of clean and safe water for humans and environment increases, environmental
friendly and cost effective water treatment techniques will provide sustainable
development in today’s environmental technology. Improvement of the quality and
quantity of water by treating water properly is a crucial step towards achieving a
sustainable development in the future [ CITATION WuT13 \l 1033 ]. Using natural coagulant
with alum in coagulation-flocculation process in water treatment can remove significant
amount colloidal particles that cause turbidity.
Due to the rapid increase in industrialization and population growth, wastewater is one
of the major dilemmas that we face today.
Water treatment process include three main steps known as the primary,
secondary, and the tertiary treatment, and coagulation is one of the primary steps in the
water treatment process which eliminates the suspended solids in water by using a
chemical coagulant [ CITATION Bra16 \l 1033 ].
Coagulation plays an essential or vital role on physico-chemical treating of
turbidity in wastewater by eliminating particles and contaminants which are the colloidal
materials in the water or wastewater that contributes to the turbidity [ CITATION Kaz13 \l
1033 ].
The use of established or traditional chemical coagulant has been effective in cost and
usage however, it can be chemically polluting the water and excessive use of alum can
be carcinogenic and could also lead to various neurological diseases if ingested
[ CITATION Sul17 \l 1033 ]. The use of alum as a coagulant also entails the generation of a
large amount of sludge, which is non-biodegradable and hard to dewater [ CITATION Gre06
\l 1033 ].
Natural coagulants have been introduced, to address the drawbacks in using alum.
Aside from its effectiveness in cost and high biodegradability, it also has a high potential
to treat water without producing high pH concentration [ CITATION Yin10 \l 1033 ] . Moreover,
studies also shows that natural coagulants produces not only a much smaller sludge
volume also with a higher nutritional sludge value [ CITATION Usm16 \l 1033 ] making it a
more sustainable option by reducing cost and handling of sludge. Natural coagulants
which can be extracted from plants as well as agro-waste are often available locally and
hence, providing a low cost alternative to chemical coagulants.
According to Ugya & Imam (2016), natural coagulant contains natural polymers, such as
proteins and polysaccharides. These polymers have high molecular weights which
correspond to long polymeric chain thus making natural coagulants more effective as
the number of active sites available for particle adsorption is increased.
Coagulation-flocculation is a crucial part in wastewater treatment procedure because it
shows the removal of impurities and contaminants which is an essential part to proceed
smoothly with the process in treating the wastewater properly. Utilization of alum and
natural coagulants together can yield a high percentage removal of turbidity in
wastewater than the use of either alum or natural coagulant alone (Zhang et al, 2006).
Studies showed that the use of two coagulants comprising of natural and chemical
coagulant is effective in treating wastewaters from sewage in household and industries
in urban areas (Tah, 2014). An example is the use of a small dose of alum and
M.Olifera, a natural coagulant, which achieved 64 percent of COD removal in sewage
water [ CITATION Bhu07 \l 1033 ].
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Utilizing the properties of Chayote (Sechium Edule) extract as natural coagulant
for treating wastewater with high levels of contaminants and colloidal particles is the aim
of this study to pave way for the development of sustainable wastewater treatment
techniques.
The study aims to reduce turbidity and Total Suspended Solids prior to subjecting
the wastewater to secondary treatment. It aims to determine the optimum conditions at
which the natural coagulant, in combination with alum will work best providing maximum
removal of turbidity and TSS.
1.3 Conceptual and Theoretical Framework
The aim of this research is to optimize the conditions under which the natural
coagulant rendered from Chayote peels can best function in combination with aluminum
sulfate (alum) to eliminate turbidity and TSS. For this research, sewage water samples
that will be used will be directly collected from the inlet point of Baguio Sewage
Treatment Plant (BSTP). Chayote will be collected from Crystal Cave, Baguio City
which will then be peeled. The researchers will weigh the chayote peels and is then
placed on a blender. It will then be filtered to obtain the active ingredient (liquid extract)
for the natural coagulant. The collected sample and extract will undergo coagulation-
flocculation process through jar tests. Six beakers with the same amount of wastewater
samples will be used. The coagulation-flocculation process is done by subjecting the
samples to rapid mixing for 30 seconds, and then slow mixing for 15 minutes at 120 rpm
and 20 rpm, respectively [ CITATION CAA17 \l 1033 ] . After mixing, it is desired to let the
samples sit and settle for 30 minutes. The physiochemical parameters of the
wastewater samples will be assessed analytically using the standard methods of
wastewater characterization as per guidelines of the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA). The control factors that are going to be considered in this study include natural
coagulant dosage and alum dosage. The goal parameters include Turbidity and TSS
removal. Other factors such as settling time, mixing time, mixing speed and temperature
are considered constant.
The study aims to conduct a total of nine (9) experiments, whereby turbidity and TSS
measurement will be done twice to account for possible variations due to outside factors
which include the nature of coagulant and the quality of the raw sewage water.
1.4 Scopes and Delimitations of the Study
The scope of this study covers the usage of a natural, plant-based coagulant,
derived from Chayote (known as “sayote” in the Philippines), in the treatment of sewage
water alongside the common chemical coagulant, alum. The researchers will be using
raw sewage water from the influent of the Baguio Sewage Treatment Plant (BSTP) as
the sample because of its high turbidity and its physicochemical characteristics are
expected to vary upon collection at different week intervals. Moreover, since the sample
wastewater to be used in this study is raw sewage water, there will be challenges in its
storage and retrieval. The delay in storage and the duration of the samples in
refrigeration must be noted. Contributing factors in the delay of sample storage and the
prolonged refrigeration include cramped school schedules of the researchers and the
distance of the storage location from the laboratory. Storage of the waste water will be
done in a 6L plastic bottle.
The potassium aluminum sulfate coagulant to be used will be in the form of
laboratory grade crystals which requires crushing or pulverizing prior to
experimentation. The chayote vegetables to be used alongside the alum coagulant will
be obtained from a small garden in Crystal Cave, Baguio City.
The study will only focus on optimizing the conditions by which the combination
of alum and the extracted natural coagulant will work best in the removal of turbidity and
Total Suspended Solids by employing the Taguchi Method for the design of experiment.
Moreover, the duration of this study will take less than five months. All experiments shall
be conducted at the laboratory of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Saint
Louis University, Baguio City
Output parameters that are also important for evaluating the effectiveness of
coagulants include Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Chemical Oxygen Demand
(COD). For the analysis of BOD, as this is normally done for a week, the researchers
have opt to exclude this from the test parameters due to the limited time to conduct the
experiments and the current pandemic situation. Moreover, the COD analysis requires
the use of silver sulfate and mercuric sulfate as its catalysts, both of which are
considered to be highly hazardous and requires special handling for its disposal. In view
of the safety of the researchers and the fact that the test is very costly and time-
consuming, the researchers omitted COD from the test parameters.
1.5 Significance of the Study
The findings of the study will benefit wastewater treatment plants, as well as
water treatment plants that use coagulation-flocculation process for primary treatment.
Utilization of chayote with alum as a natural coagulant would lead to lower costs used
for handling and treatment of sludge because of reduced generation of sludge. Sludge
generated also has high nutritional value which means that it may also be used as
fertilizers. The use of natural coagulant also promotes green chemistry as it is
biodegradable and toxic-free, which is lacking in chemical coagulants.
In the future, if commercialization of natural coagulants is made possible, it may
be greatly beneficial for developing areas with little to no access to chemical coagulants
for use in their wastewater treatment.
