Utilizing polyglutamic acid in treatment of sago effluent

• Main Author: Peter Alphonso, Anak Anthony Nyoel
• Format: Final Year Project Report
• Language: English; English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, (UNIMAS) 2011
• Subjects: Q Science (General)
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/5350/1/Utilizing%20polyglutamic%20acid%20in%20treatment%20of%20sago%20effluent%20%2824pgs%29.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/5350/7/Peter%20Alphonso%20ft.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/5350/

Sago effluent gives negative effect to the environment. The effluent which is rich in starch and fibre increase the nutrient level in the water. These nutrients will be used by the algae which will proliferate and will lead to eutrophication. This will eventually increase the BOD and COD level which violate the minimum level set in the Environmental Act 1974. Various methods are used to treat this effluent, which include the use of rotary vacuum filters; synthetic flocculants (e.g. PAC, PAM) and bio-flocculants (e.g. PGA). Flocculation/coagulation method using polyglutamic acid (PGA) was employed to remove the solids from the sago effluent. From the experiments, it is found that flocculation of sago starch and fibre with PGA work at its best with the temperature of 30°C, pH 4 and PGA concentration at 0.1%.