Abstract

RODRIGUEZ JIMENEZ, Dalia Milena  and  GALLEGO SUAREZ, Darío de Jesús. Evaluation of chitosan as a natural coagulant for fish effluents treatment. Rev. colomb. biotecnol [online]. 2019, vol.21, n.1, pp.6-17. ISSN 0123-3475.  https://doi.org/10.15446/rev.colomb.biote.v21n1.73340.

Using organic polymers for wastewater treatment through coagulation/flocculation processes is more advantageous than current approach based on inorganic coagulants, due to the former's biodegradability and low toxicity in the water. Chitosan is a biopolymer that has been used as coagulant in wastewater treatment. In this study, chitosan was evaluated as a natural coagulant used in the clarification of fish effluents in biofloc technology (BFT) and aquaculture recirculation system (RAS). A one-way completely randomized experimental design with fixed effects was implemented. The water clarification tests were conducted using the jar test method with chitosan doses of 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 mg/L. The chitosan dose effect was analyzed as natural coagulant on the removal of the water's turbidity, total suspended solids (SST) and volatile suspended solids (SSV). The effect of the chitosan load on the turbidity removal was found, as optimal dose of 9 mg/L for 88% with final turbidity value of 3.9 NTU (with significance < 0.05). In absence of chitosan, only values of 78.2 and 76.7% for SST and SSV were reached, respectively. Chitosan allowed the removal of turbidity from the water (BFT).

Keywords : biopolymers; jar test; effluent clarification.

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