Assessment of Coagulant Synergy for the Depollution of Binder Emulsion Plant Effluent

Binder emulsion plant effluent is a source of intense pollution when discharged into the environment without proper degree of treatment due to its strong color as well as higher total suspended solids (TSS) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) contents. An empirical study was conducted to optimize the effect of the coagulants used for the removal of Color, Turbidity, TSS, and COD from binder emulsion effluent. The coagulants, used with and without the induction of Powdered Activated Carbon (PAC) to enhance the decrease in pollution concentration, included Ferrous Sulfate, Ferric Chloride, Alum and Lime. Ferric Chloride used in combination with PAC produced a synergistic effect in terms of effluent depollution and transpired into efficient removal of effluent COD (83%), Color (98%), Turbidity (97%) and TSS (96%). Induction of PAC with all the coagulants combined proved highly effective as well in decreasing the effluent COD, color, Turbidity and TSS by 91%, 99%, 99% and 97% respectively. In a combined process of coagulation and adsorption, combination of ferric chloride and PAC gave effective results in terms of pollutants removal by around 90% as compared to combination of PAC with other coagulants, yielding removal percentages of lower than 50%.