[Environment] Chief Editor Iftikhar A. Raja comsats institute of Information Technology Abbottabad (Pakistan)

ABSTRACT

The need of wastewater (WW) treatment is increasing in Pakistan because of increasing generation and disposal of untreated WW that subsequently increase the potential impacts on the health of community and environment. Thus, alternate treatment methods and technologies, using indigenous materials, are required for limiting the costs of design, installation and operation of WW treatment systems in the country. Such a WW treatment system was previously developed at the Department of Agricultural Engineering, Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan. The developed Trickling Filter treatment system used indigenous agri-waste material as TF media and was named Maize Cobs Trickling Filter (MCTF). The present study continued to evaluate the performance variation of the MCTF after re-filling the system with new maize-cob TF support media. The MCTF system was operated at hydraulic loadings relating to field flow rates varying from 50 to 132m³/day. The achieved BOD (biological oxygen demand) removal was 74-84% and COD (chemical oxygen demand) 72-83%. The observed solids removal included 50 ± 4% TSS (total suspended solids), 37 ±5% TDS (total dissolved solids) and 49 ± 4% turbidity. The MCTF proved to be a promising and innovative wastewater treatment technology that is adoptable for relatively safe disposal and reuse of treated wastewater at the farm level in a country facing constraints like Pakistan.

AWT-29

Use of Agricultural Waste-Gardenia Jasminoides Leaves for Removing Textile Dye-Amaranth from water in Cost Effective Manner

Rabia Rehman and Farah Kanwal*

Institute of Chemistry, University of the Punjab, Lahore-54590, Pakistan

[e-mail]

ABSTRACT

Agricultural solid waste namely Gardenia jasminoides plant leaves was used for removing an anionic textile dye namely Amaranth from synthetic waste-water. In order to enhance adsorption capacity of Gardenia jasminoides leaves, it was treated with acid and base separately and comparative adsorption studies were carried out for determining effectiveness of chemical modification in terms of sorption capacity on batch scale. Chemisorption occurred during removal of dye by adsorption as indicated by Langmuir model applicability and maximum sorption capacities were 5.24 mg/g, which is increased after acid treatment to 24.45 mg/g and decreased by base treatment to 3.14 mg/g. Results showed that acid modification of Gardenia jasminoides leaves is more appropriate for adsorptive removal of Amaranth dye in cost effective manner.


AWT-30

KINETIC AND EQUILIBRIUM MODELING FOR BIOSORPTION OF LEAD (II) BY CHEMICALLY MODIFIED COTTON LEAVES BIOMASS
Muhammad Riaz¹*, Raziya Nadeem², Rabia Riaz¹, A. R.A. Alias¹, Mehar-Un-Nisa<sup>1

1</sup>Department of Chemistry, University of Sargodha, Women Campus Faisalabad, Pakistan

²Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad-38040, Pakistan

[e-mail]

ABSTRACT

Biosorption Pb(II) on chemically pretreated G. hirsutum (cotton) leaves waste biomass was investigated in the present study. The Pb (II) sorption was found dependent on solution pH, initial Pb (II) concentration, temperature and contact time. The chemical pretreatment of biomass resulted in significant enhancement and reduction in sorption capacity depending on the nature of pretreatment. Results revealed that chemical modifications of G. hirsutum (cotton) leaves waste biomass with alkali, inorganic salts, organic salts and organic solvents enhanced the adsorption capacity, while acidic pretreatments caused reduction in adsorption capacity. The sorption data was fitted well to Langmuir isotherm and kinetic data to pseudo second order model, due to higher value of correlation coefficient (R²). The effect of contact time showed that sorption of Pb (II) occurred rapidly within first 30 minutes followed by slow adsorption till equilibrium. Present research work illustrated an effective and economical biosorbent for the removal of toxic heavy metals from aqueous solutions.
AWT-31

LOW-COST PRE-TREATMENT OF PHARMACEUTICAL WASTEWATER
A. Abu-Safa, S. Abu-Salah,

Ahmad J. Abu-Safa and Salah A. Abu-Salah

Royal Scientific Society / Water and Environment Center, Amman-Jordan

[e-mail], [e-mail]
ABSTRACT

Pharmaceutical industries and effluents of sewage treatment plants are the main sources of residual pharmaceuticals in water resources. These emergent pollutants may adversely impact the biophysical environment. Pharmaceutical industries often generate wastewater that changes in characteristics and quantity depending on the used manufacturing processes.Carbamazepine (CBZ),{5H-dibenzo[b,f]azepine-5-carboxamide, (C₁₅H₁₂N₂O)}, is a significant non-biodegradable pharmaceutical contaminant in the Jordanian pharmaceutical wastewater, which is not removed by the activated sludge processes in treatment plants. Activated carbon may potentially remove that pollutant from effluents, but the high cost involved suggests that more attention should be given to the potential use of low-cost materials in order to reduce cost and environmental contamination. Powders of Jordanian non-metallic raw materials namely, Azraq Bentonite (AB), Kaolinite (K), and Zeolite (Zeo) were activated (acid and thermal treatment) and evaluated by removing CBZ.The results of batch and column techniques experiments showed around 46% and 67% removal of CBZ respectively.

GREEN TECHNOLOGY AND ALTERNATE ENERGY

BAE-02

Assessment of Run-of-River Hydropower Potential of Kunhar River using Geospatial Techniques

Majid Khan and Arjumand Z. Zaidi

Department of Remote Sensing and Geo-information Science

Institute of Space Technology, Karachi, Pakistan

[e-mail], [e-mail]