A Novel Method of Algal Based Water Treatment by Natural Coagulant Alginates

Waste water treatment is the major problem being faced in developing countries, like India presently, only about 10 % of waste water generated is treated, the rest is discharged as it is into our water bodies the most commonly faced problem in disposal of waste water is their colour and turbidity. Among these, removal of colour is one of the major concerns in waste water treatment. For analysing synthetic textile waste water samples (Congo red), a standard jar test was conducted with the different initial concentration of 50, 100, 150, 200 and 250 mg/L with different initial pH of 4, 5and 6 in distilled water. These samples were treated with the different dose of calcium and different doses of alginate. Results of the study indicated that calcium alginate proved to be a very effective coagulant causing turbidity removals generally over 95 %. In these samples concentration values as low as were achieved even at low doses of alginate. By increasing alginate doses and increasing residence time helps to improve the performance. Calcium alginates are used as a clarifier, foam stabilizer, emulsifiers.