Treatment of pulp and paper mill wastewaters with poly aluminium chloride and bagasse fly ash

The present study deals with the use of poly aluminium chloride (PAC) as a coagulant and bagasse fly ash (BFA), which is generated in sugar mills, as an adsorbent for the removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and colour of pulp and paper mill effluents. Under optimal conditions of pH 3 and initial PAC dosage of 3 g/l, about 80% COD removal and 90% colour removal were obtained. The optimal conditions for the adsorptive removal of COD and colour with BFA were pH 4 and BFA dosage of 2 g/l. Under these conditions, COD and colour removal were, respectively, 50 and 55%. Adsorptive removal of COD by BFA followed second-order kinetics. Intra-particle diffusion was found to be rate controlling. Freundlich and Langmuir adsorption isotherms were found to fit the equilibrium adsorption data with BFA. Two-stage treatment using PAC (3 g/l) as a coagulant in the first stage and BFA (2 g/l) as an adsorbent in the second stage gave the combined COD and colour removal of nearly 87 and 95%, respectively, for different effluents without any pH adjustment. Two-stage adsorptive treatment using BFA (2 g/l) in both the stages gave a combined COD and colour removal of about 70%. The sludge obtained can be dewatered by centri-clarifiers, dried, briquetted and incinerated to recover its energy content.