Study of Wastewater Filtrate Properties from Melon Husk Bio-sorbents

Abstract

Industrial wastewater is a major source of water pollution when discharged in marine habitats without adequate treatment. Chemical treatment of wastewater is expensive, demanding other alternative sources especially from waste materials. In this study, the feasibility of using melon husk (MH) and melon husk bio-char (MHB) to improve the properties of oilfield produced water (OFPW) was investigated. The OFPW was contacted with the MH and MHB through a fixed bed column and filtrates were collected after 30, 60, 90 and 120minutes. Properties of the OFPW were determined before and after contact with the bio-sorbents. The properties determined were pH, oxidation reduction potential (ORP), total dissolved solid (TDS) and turbidity. Generally, the MHB gave better results than the MH but the TDS were high. Further tests that were thus conducted on the OFPW and only on the MHB filtrate after 120minutes of contact time include biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total organic carbon (TOC), dissolved oxygen (DO) and concentrations of three heavy metals; cadmium, lead and nickel. Results showed that MHB contains the three heavy metals considered and as such could not reduce their concentrations in the wastewater but it was efficient in drastically reducing the BOD of the OFPW. The MHB failed to reduce the COD and TOC of the wastewater because the TDS was high since the bio-char introduced more dissolved chemicals into the OFPW. Hence, MHB should be used with caution for wastewater treatment but is recommended for elimination of physical pollutants from wastewater.