Coagulation-flocculation performances for cuttlefish effluents treatment

Coagulation-flocculation of the colloids particles present in the cuttlefish effluents was investigated using a coagulation step with aluminium sulphate (SA), followed by a flocculation step with starch, SiO2 or MgO and then poly dimethyl ammonium chloride (PDMAC), in order to reduce the turbidity and chemical oxygen demand (COD). Kinetic aspects, adsorption equilibrium, pH and conductivity were studied in order to determine the optimum coagulation conditions and SA quantities. The addition of organic polymer as a flocculant agent gave a better performance than the use of salt alone with a reduction of 50% of the SA consumption. Polymer molecular weight of PDMAC and charge density of starch have been also investigated. The best result, which is 90% of removal rate in chemical oxygen demand (COD) and a turbidity value of 7 NTU was obtained with the combination using 165.5 mg l(-1) of aluminium sulphate, 750 mg l(-1) of MgO and 35 mg l(-1) of PDMAC 400000.