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Use of glycosides extracted from the fique ( Furcraea sp.) in wastewater treatment for textile industry
Lozano-Rivas, W. A.; Whiting, K. E.; Gómez-Lahoz, C. & Rodríguez-Maroto, J. M.
Abstract
The laboratory tests for the use of sapogenic
amphiphilic glycosides as a coagulation–flocculation aid are
presented in this paper. These amphiphilic glycosides were
obtained, through a natural fermentation process, of the juice,
of fique (Furcraea sp.) leaves. Decantation allows for the
separation of a supernatant denominated ‘‘supernatant fique
juice’’ and a decanted fraction denominated ‘‘decanted fique
juice.’’ The latter contains most of the sapogenic amphiphilic
glycosides and was mixed with the chemical coagulant ferric
chloride hexahydrate, at varying doses. Ferric chloride hexahydrate
was also used as a control to ascertain the removal
efficiency of persistent contaminants from samples of a textile
industry effluent. The parameters of interest were typical
indicators of water quality such as color, turbidity, chemical
oxygen demand, pH and conductivity. The results indicate
that the decanted fique juice, when used as a coagulation–flocculation aid, and upon comparison with the chemical
coagulant alone, causes an additional color and turbidity
reduction of 31 and 17 %, respectively. No significant differences
were noted in the chemical oxygen demand values
(α = 0.05; P<0.001). Thus, there is a scope for further
research about the commercial feasibility of DFJ as an
industrial water treatment agent, which reduces the toxicity of
raw fique juice and its detrimental environmental effects.
Keywords
Coagulation; Flocculation aid; Textile industry; Agricultural waste valorization; Treatability tests
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