Treatment of POME via chitosan based flocculation : a study on the degree of deacetylation of chitosan

• Main Author: Fauziah, Hairan
• Format: Undergraduates Project Papers
• Language: English
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: TP Chemical technology
• Online Access: http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/621/1/2766.pdf; http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/621/

Palm oil mill effluent (POME) is one of the major problematic oily wastewaters in Malaysia. POME contains 4,000 mg/L of oil and grease, which is relatively high compared to the limit of only 50 mg/L set by the Malaysian Department of Environment. In this study, chitosan, poly-b-(1,4)-2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-glucose (N-deacetylated) was used as an adsorbent to adsorb the excess oil from oily wastewater. Chitosan is a biodegradable cationic biopolymer achieved by the extensive deacetylation of chitin obtained from prawn shell waste. The parameters studied were the effect of varying the degree of deacetylation, pH, temperature and different dosage of solid and liquid chitosan in removing oil. The study was conducted by using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) to vary the degree of deacetylation and a study of flocculation was carried out by using a jar-test apparatus. From the results, it showed that chitosan produce by treatment with 50% NaOH at 90°C for 5 h gave a chitosan product with 79.55% DDA has removed 99.30% of residual oil from the POME wastewater is 99.30%. Besides, at pH 5 and optimum temperature of 60 oC provided the most suitable conditions for the residue oil removal with employing the settling rate for 120 minutes. Liquid chitosan at 6% dosage has reduced 80% residual oil. In conclusion, chitosan has a potential for treating residual oil in POME sample. -Author