Flocculating Activity and Dehydration Efficiency of Biopolymer Flocculant Biopol32 in Industrial Wastewater Treatment

Abstract

For the practical application and development of biopolymer flocculant Biopol32 produced by Pseudomonas sp. GP32, its flocculation effect on wastewater from food processing, slaughter houses, and the dyeing industry was investigated. In the food processing wastewater, Biopol32 led to a chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction rate of 70% and a suspended solid (SS) removal rate of 49% at pH 6.0. In the slaughter house wastewater at pH 4.0, a COD reduction rate of 61% and SS removal rate of 91% were observed, and in the dyeing wastewater, the rates were 72% and 92%, respectively, at pH 5.0. The size of floc formed during the flocculation process was 10 mm at a final concentration of 20 ppm, and the dehydration efficiency was 62%. In both the bioflocculant Biopol32 group and a PAA synthetic flocculant group, optimal flocculant concentration that yielded the best overall dehydration efficiency was 20 ppm, and, at this concentration, the shortest filtration time to reach the natural critical moisture content of 78.1% was attained.