Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH
Volume 24, Issue 3, Pages 2876-2889Publisher
SPRINGER HEIDELBERG
DOI: 10.1007/s11356-016-8024-z
Keywords
Jackfruit seeds; Starch properties; Amylopectin; Coagulant aid; Microalgae harvesting; Bridging mechanism
Categories
Funding
- Monash University Malaysia
- Higher Degree by Research Scholarship (HDR) - Monash University Malaysia
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Fruit wastes constituting up to half of total fruit weight represent a large pool of untapped resources for isolation of starch with diverse applications. In this work, the possibility of isolating starch from tropical fruit wastes and its extended application as a natural coagulant was elucidated. Amongst the 12 various parts of fruit wastes selected, only jackfruit seeds contained more than 50% of total starch content. Using alkaline extraction procedures, starch has been successfully isolated from local jackfruit seeds with a yield of approximately 18%. Bell-shaped starch granules were observed under SEM with a granule size ranging from 1.1 to 41.6 mu m. Detailed starch characteristics were performed to provide a comparison between the isolated seed starch and also conventional starches. Among them, chemical properties such as the content of starch, amylose, amylopectin and the corresponding molecular weights are some of the key characteristics which governed their performance as natural coagulants. The potential use of isolated seed starch as an aid was then demonstrated in both suspensions of kaolin (model synthetic system) and Chlorella sp. microalga (real-time application) with plausible outcomes. At optimized starch dosage of 60 mg/L, the overall turbidity removal in kaolin was enhanced by at least 25% at a fixed alum dosage of 2.1 mg/L. Positive turbidity and COD removals were also observed in the treatment of Chlorella suspensions. Starches which served as bridging agents aided in the linkage of neighbouring microflocs and subsequently, forming macroflocs through a secondary coagulation mechanism: adsorption and bridging.
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