Evaluating the Use of Alum Sludge in Treatment of Wastewater Effluent Case Study: Namatala Wastewater Stabilization Pond in Mbale
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Date
2024-04-16
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Abstract
One of the final products for wastewater stabilization ponds is effluent discharged to
the environment. And as well in raw water treatment, the key process for portable
water treatment is clarification by use of Alum as a coagulant. This comprises of
coagulation, flocculation and sedimentation to enhance the removal or the reduction
of contaminates in water and in turn slurry Alum sludge is produced as waste product.
The use of the alum sludge as an economic and sustainable way in treating the
wastewater effluent to meet the discharge standards is key. The Alum sludge used in
this work contained aluminum concentration of 15.81% obtained from 5g of dry Alum
sludge dissolved in a solution of 100ml of 3N concentrated sulphuric acid hence making
it a potential coagulant recovered suitable for reuse. The jar test gave the optimum
dose of Alum extract of 35mg/l that reduced Turbidity by 82.3% from 39 NTU to 6.9 NTU
at PH of 7.78. The optimum dose of the Alum extract applied to treat the wastewater
effluent effectively reduced on the contaminates such as BOD, COD, Total Phosphorus
and Total Nitrogen to meet the discharge standards from 202 ± 3.89mg/l to 41 ± 0.45
mg/l, 397 ± 2.59mg/l to 80 ± 1.86 mg/l, 73.4 ± 1.47mg/l to 9.1 ± 0.28 mg/l, and 51.4
± 3.55 mg/l reduced to 3.7 ± 0.35 mg/l. Therefore, environmental friendly way of Alum
recovery from the Alum Sludge to reuse as a coagulant in treating wastewater effluent
gave economical and sustainable solution to protect the environment.