Evaluation of the efficiency of constructed activated carbon for the treatment of abattoir wastewater

Abstract

In Sub-Saharan Africa, effluents from abattoirs that contain dissolved suspended particles which could be either organic or inorganic are discharged untreated into rivers and lakes. Activated carbon filters can be employed in the process of removing these organic compounds from effluent, thereby making the water suitable for discharge or use in other processes. 5 liters of abattoir wastewater was used for this study, during which two different synthesized activated carbon from sawdust ACC and ACH were employed as filters for the treatment of abattoir wastewater, and thus physico-chemical, heavy metal and microbial analysis were conducted. Activated carbon used was synthesized by means of physicochemical activation of waste sawdust and later heated at 250oC, the material was chemically activated using a base calcium chloride, ACC and an acid phosphoric acid, ACH, respectively. It was found that the maximum percent removal of turbidity, pH, Alkalinity, BOD5, COD, TSS and Chloride ions were 88%, 16.4%, 0%, 89.5%, 95.2%, 96.9% and 81.9% for ACC and 99.8%, 20%, 22.9%, 92.2%, 96.2%, 97.9% and 80.8% for ACH. An increase in DO was observed at 51.1% and 53.3% for ACC and ACH respectively. It was concluded that the constructed ACC has better performance than that of ACH for most However, ACH presented better performance especially for the removal of dissolved solids. There is a need to dope activated carbon with nanoparticles for the treatment of abattoir wastewater.