Enhancing the Efficiency of Banana Peel Bio-Coagulant in Turbid and River Water Treatment Applications
Abdassalam A. Azamzam, Mohd Rafatullah, Esam Bashir Yahya, Mardiana Idayu Ahmad, Japareng Lalung, Mahboob Alam, Masoom Raza Siddiqui
Abstract
The aim of the present work is to investigate the potential use of banana peel waste as a natural coagulant and to enhance its coagulation performance using a green modification approach for the removal of synthetic water turbidity and river water treatment. Here, the regular banana peel powder had an average particle size and diameter of 978 ± 37 nm and 602 ± 13 nm, respectively, while the modified powder possessed 571 ± 41 nm and 360 ± 19 nm particle size and diameter, respectively. The coagulation performance was investigated at different pH levels, doses, sedimentation times, and NaCl quantities. The optimum dose was found to be 0.4 g/L for modified banana peel with turbidity removal of up to 90%. NaCl slightly enhanced the coagulation performance at low quantities of less than 0.4 g/L, but the activity was reduced at higher concentrations even in the modified powder. Banana peel powder had a weaker turbidity reduction of 76 and 84% for non-modified and modified powders in river water, respectively, in addition to significant reduction in water color, total dissolved and suspended solids, and chemical and biochemical oxygen demand. SEM and FT-IR characterization were performed to investigate and confirm the coagulation mechanism. Such a green modification of banana peel powder can be an alternative with significantly potential as a low cost and easily available bio-coagulant, which can certainly contribute to the waste reduction.