Investigation of starch as flocculant for removing oil from oily wastewater

The treatment of oil-containing wastewater was carried out in 3 stages coagulation, neutralization, and flocculation processes. In this study, natural flocculants that are alternatives to polyacrylamide (PAM), have been investigated, as PAM poses a danger to drinking water and aquatic organisms. Flocculant properties were given to starch by modification, pregel, and graft methods, and flocculation results were examined. Oil content and pollution removal performances from wastewater were evaluated with the flocculant effect, the effect of pH conditions, dosage amounts, and temperature parameters. Since the chemical flocculants used in the flocculation sedimentation process to treat oily wastewater cause environmental damage, a natural flocculant effect study was carried out. The effect of starch flocculants synthesized by pregel, modified, and graft techniques on the oily wastewater, bilge water, was evaluated. In this context, the interaction of the effects of PAM, Pregel starch, modified starch and starch graft acrylamide flocculants on the bilge water with different ambient pH, dosage amount and temperature are included. Impact assessment at 5.5-7-8.5 ambient pH for 4 different flocculants; The effect evaluation of 10-15-25 mL dosage amounts and the effect evaluation at 25-40-60 degrees C temperatures were investigated by experimental studies. Suspended solids analysis, COD, Turbidity and oil-grease determinations are the analyses made for the improvement results in water due to impact assessments. According to the results obtained, it is a flocculant-modified starch that can compete with PAM but needs further development. 98.14 % suspended solids removal, 34.30 % COD removal, 98.94 % turbidity removal and approximately 99.9 % oil removal efficiency were obtained with modified starch.

Automated summary

In this study, the treatment of oil-containing wastewater was carried out using modified starch as a natural flocculant. The effectiveness of starch flocculants under different conditions was evaluated, and it was found that modified starch can compete with PAM but requires further development.