Evaluating Natural and Treated Clay Coagulants for Wastewater Treatment in Agro-Food Industries Related to Meat, Oil, and Fruit Juice Processing

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Civil engineering department, faculty of engineering, Suez Canal University, Ismalia Egypt

2 Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Suez Canal University

Abstract

Agro-food industries, such as meat processing, vegetable oil production, and fruit juice manufacturing, produce wastewater with significant environmental impacts due to high levels of pollutants. This study evaluates the effectiveness of natural clay (n.clay) and treated clay (t.clay) coagulants in treating wastewater from these industries. The wastewater was characterized by high levels of chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solids (TSS), turbidity, and color. The n.clay and t.clay were tested for their ability to reduce these pollutants. Results showed that for vegetable oil wastewater, t.clay reduced COD by 54.08%, while n.clay achieved a 40.14% reduction. In meat processing wastewater, t.clay reduced COD by 6.62%, while n.clay showed no reduction. For fruit juice wastewater, n.clay demonstrated better COD reduction (43.91%) than t.clay (20.24%). The cost estimation indicated that treating 1 cubic meter of wastewater with natural clay would cost approximately 10.2 Egyptian pounds. This study highlights the potential of clay-based coagulants as sustainable alternatives to chemical treatments in wastewater management.

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Main Subjects

Suez Canal Engineering, Energy and Environmental Science
Volume 3, Issue 1
January 2025
Pages 6-16

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