The possibility of using commercial chitosan flakes as an adsorbent for the removal of pollutants from biodiesel wastewater was evaluated. The effect of varying the adsorption time (0.5-5 h), initial wastewater pH (2-8), adsorbent dose (0.5-5.5 g/L) and mixing rate (120-350 rpm) on the efficiency of pollutant removal was explored by univariate analysis. Under the derived optimal conditions, greater than 59.3%, 87.9% and 66.2% of the biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and oil & grease, respectively, was removed by a single adsorption. Nevertheless, the remaining BOD, COD and oil & grease were still higher than the acceptable Thai government limits for discharge into the environment. When the treatment was repeated, a greater than 93.6%, 97.6% and 95.8% removal of the BOD, COD and oil & grease, respectively, was obtained. The reusability of commercial chitosan following NaOH washing (0.05-0.2 M) was not suitable, with less than 40% efficiency after just one recycling and declining rapidly thereafter. The adsorption kinetics of all pollutant types by the commercial chitosan flakes was controlled by a mixed process of diffusion and adsorption of the pollutants during the early treatment period (0-1.5 h) and then solely controlled by adsorption after 2 h.
Keywords: Adsorption; Biodiesel wastewater; Chitosan; Kinetics.
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