Treatment of pulping effluents by using alum and clay - colour removal and sludge characteristics

The effect of clay addition during alum coagulation, on the removal of colour from pulp-and-paper industry wastewaters, was investigated. Four types of clay, namely beige-and brown-sepiolites, calcium- and sodium-bentonites of different mesh sizes were used. Different quantities of alum and clay were applied, either singly or in combination, to the effluents of the wood-based pulp-and-paper mill. Colour of the treated wastewater, the sludge volume index (SVI) and sludge cake resistance (SCR) of the sludge produced were monitored. It was observed that the clays tested were not efficient in colour removal when they were applied on their own. When clay was added along with alum, a certain increase in colour removal efficiency was obtained as compared to alum alone. When alum was used in conjunction with clay, settling characteristics of the sludge produced improved substantially, in terms of both SVI and SCR. Acid activation of the clays did not improve the colour removal efficiency further. However, acid activation of sodium bentonite caused the SVI and SCR values to improve considerably compared to virgin sodium bentonite. Use of different mesh sizes of clays did not exert any significant effect on the colour removal. However, it did exert significant effects on SVI and SCR values as such that the increase in mesh size caused the SVI values to decrease and the SCR values to increase. WaterSA Vol.27(3) 2001: 361-36