Recycling of Alum from Water Treatment Residue and Reuse It as a Flocculating Agent for Raw Water Treatment

Abstract

The chemical coagulation-flocculation technology is touted as one of the valuable techniques and widely used for wastewater treatment because of its simplicity and effectiveness. So far, a number of flocculants have been fabricated to ameliorate the flocculation process in water treatment such as alum, polyaluminium chloride. Despite its broad application in water treatment, accumulation of alum in sludge has been reported as the main source of a disposal problem. Furthermore, recent studies suggested that the presence of alum in sludge may lead to human health problems. Here in, we have used alkalization method to recover alum present in sludge collected from Kimisagara water treatment plant located in Kigali capital city of Rwanda. The recovered alum was used more than one time and showed excellent flocculation efficiency. Some physical parameters such as pH, Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Conductivity and Turbidity were systematically tested and compared with those of World Health Organization (WHO) and Rwanda Standards Board (RSB) standards for drinking water. The results showed that alum present in sludge can be recovered and reused for multiple times.