Feasibility of Coagulation-Flocculation Followed by Mango Seed Filtration for Treatment of Swine Industry Effluent

Abstract

The effluent generated by pig farming has a high potential to cause pollution. However, correct disposal of pig farming effluent is not normal, due to the high cost of implementation and maintenance of conventional treatment systems. In this context, the present work sought to conduct a study of the feasibility of a two-step treatment: coagulation/flocculation system with subsequent filtration. In the coagulation/flocculation process, a polymer was used as a coagulant and the filtration process was carried out comparing two filters, one containing conventional sand and activated carbon and the other containing sand and activated carbon produced from mango seed. To analyse the viability of the treatment, pH, acidity, turbidity, total organic carbon, standard plate pathogen count and thermotolerant coliforms analyses were performed. The process proved to be efficient in removing the analysed parameters with emphasis on the removal of approximately 100% of the microbial load. An analysis of variance to compare the performance of activated carbon produced with conventional charcoal showed that the filters showed significant differences in all tests and, in most of the analyses performed, the activated carbon filter produced from mango seed presented a better performance. than conventional activated carbon.