SYTHESIS AND EVALUATION OF THE EFFICIENCY OF FLY ASH-DERIVED COAGULATANT FOR INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER PRE-TREATMENT

Abstract

The development of new materials for environmental treatment and the reuse of industrial waste have been receiving attention, aiming to sustainable development. In this study, fly ash from a thermal power plant was utilized to synthesize a coagulant. The synthesized coagulant was applied in the pre-treatment of centralized industrial wastewater using the coagulation-flocculation process. The optimal dosage of coagulant was determined through Jartests in the laboratory. Then, coagulation-flocculation experiments were conducted using a laboratory-scale model, comparing the fly ash-derived coagulant with commercially available polyaluminum chloride (PAC). Jartest results demonstrated that the fly ash-based coagulant achieved removal efficiencies of 85.94% for turbidity and 90.49% for suspended solids (SS) at a dosage of 7.0 mg/L and pH 8.0. Model-scale experiments showed that the fly ash-based coagulant at the selected dosage, and PAC at 500 mg/L, achieved removal efficiencies of 61.8% and 39.08% for turbidity, 52.67% and 51.42% for SS, and 57.79% and 23.53% for COD, respectively. These results indicate that fly ash from thermal power plants can be effectively reused as a coagulant, offering a promising solution for wastewater pre-treatment and contributing to the reduction of environmental impacts from coal-fired power plant waste.