Evaluation of starches as flocculants for the removal of turbidity in surface water

• Autores: Cerna Cueva, Alberto Franco, Vega-Sanchez, Pedro Eduardo, Cordova-Ayra, Thalía, Pizarro-Acosta, Jhair Jesús, Rojas-Trejo, Nicole Maryeli, Mallcco-Quispe, María Laboure, Da Cruz-Rodriguez, Abby Solange, Zavala-Guerrero, Sandra Lorena, Guerra Lu, José Kalion
• Formato: artículo
• Fecha de Publicación: 2024
• Institución: Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería
• Repositorio: Revistas - Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería
• Lenguaje: español
• OAI Identifier: oai:oai:revistas.uni.edu.pe:article/1907
• Enlace del recurso: https://revistas.uni.edu.pe/index.php/tecnia/article/view/1907
• Nivel de acceso: acceso abierto
• Materia: floculante; almidón; Colocasia Esculenta; Turbiedad; aguas superficiales

The objective of this research was to evaluate the flocculant power of three types of starches, from white and yellow potato (Solanum tuberosum) and pituca (Colocasia esculenta) to remove turbidity in surface water. For this purpose, starch was extracted by mashing potatoes with a water/mass ratio of 1:4 and pituca with a ratio of 1:1, then sedimented and dried at 45 °C for 24 hours. Flocculant was prepared by dissolving 10 grams of starch in 250 ml of hot water at 60 °C and then boiled. Evaluation of the flocculant involved aluminum sulfate coagulation of the surface water, adjusting the pH to 9, and then coagulant was dosed until the pH was lowered to 6.9. The flocculant power of the starches was evaluated at doses of 0.3 ml and 0.5 ml per liter of water to be treated. The physicochemical parameters evaluated were measured before and after the addition of the starch flocculants. The yellow potato, white potato and pituca starches significantly improved the turbidity removal efficiency in the water treatment, exceeding 95%. However, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) increased, indicating a higher organic load. Sludge generation also increased with the addition of organic flocculants. Increasing the starch dose beyond 0.3 ml did not improve turbidity removal, suggesting that this dose is an "optimal dose" for maximizing turbidity reduction efficiency.