Journal of Environmental Management 136 (2014) 103e111

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Environmental Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jenvman

Use of naturalized coagulants in removing laundry waste surfactant

using various unit processes in lab-scale
S. Mariraj Mohan
Department of Civil Engineering, Alagappa Chettiar College of Engineering & Technology, Karaikudi 630004, Tamil Nadu, India

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 20 July 2013
Received in revised form
9 December 2013
Accepted 2 February 2014
Available online 25 February 2014

This lab-scale experiment is aimed at demonstrating a treatment system for purication and reuse of
laundry rinsing water generated from households. The main objective of the study is to compare the
efciencies of various natural coagulants in removing laundry waste surfactants and other major pollutants from the laundry rinsing water. The treatment system consists of CoagulationeFlocculation, Sand
ltration and Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) adsorption. Four experiments were conducted in batch
process by varying the coagulants (Nirmali seed and Pectin extracted from pith of Orange peel). Coagulants have been selected due to their local availability at affordable cost and technical feasibility. From
the study it is concluded that laundry rinsing water polluted with high turbidity and anionic surfactant
treated with Nirmali seeds as coagulant at a retention time of 24 h gives the best results. The treatment
system where Orange peel pectin is used as coagulant at a retention time of 24 h is found to be the most
efcient one based on the weighted factor. Hence the treatment of laundry rinsing water by aforesaid
combination results in better water quality.
2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Nirmali seed
Orange peel
Sand ltration
GAC adsorption
Anionic surfactant

1. Introduction
Water is essential for socio-economic development and for
maintaining healthy ecosystem. As population increases and
development calls for increased allocations of groundwater and
surface water for the domestic, agriculture and industrial sectors,
the pressure on water resources intensies, leading to tension,
conict among users and excessive pressure on the environment.
(FAO: Natural Resources and Environmental Department, 2012)
India accounts for 2.45% of land area and 4% of water resources
of the world, but it represents 16% of the world population. With
the present population growth rate (1.9 per cent per year), the
population is expected to cross the 1.5 billion mark by 2050. The
Planning Commission, Government of India has estimated that the
demand for water would increase from 710 BCM (Billion Cubic
Meters) in 2010 to almost 1180 BCM in 2050 for domestic needs;
industrial water consumption is expected to increase almost 2.5
times (CPCB, Ministry of Environment and Forestry). Water is a key
resource and nothing can replace it. Water management deserves
priority in the development of any area and it is very essential to
develop low-cost technologies for sustainable water usage on a
household scale.

E-mail address: mari_sundar@yahoo.com.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2014.02.004
0301-4797/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The aim of this project is to develop a low cost technology for

recycling water in laundry washing. The basic idea is to clean the
polluted rinsed water and reuse it. In other words, the polluting
components namely the added detergent and fabric dirt are
removed during treatment. The treated water can be reused for
household or irrigation purposes.
1.1. Laundry rinsing water
In a country like India with tropical climatic conditions, clothes
become very dirty because of sweat, dust, etc. Therefore water used
for washing is very dirty and not suitable for reuse. The rinsing
water is much cleaner than washing water and hence much more
suitable for reuse. The main constituents of rinsing water are ingredients of detergents used and dirt released from clothes.
The main component of a detergent is the surfactant. Surfactants
have the unique ability to remove both particulate soils and oily soils.
Linear Alkyl Benzene Sulfonate (LAS) is the mainly used anionic
surfactant in detergents. In hard water, surfactants precipitate with
magnesium and calcium ions and lose their functionality. This can be
prevented by complexation, precipitation or ion exchange of magnesium and calcium ions by builders (Sabina Fijan et al., 2008).
Dirt constituents in laundry rinsing water are mainly particulate
soil and oily soil. The rinsing water also contains some dye that
leach from fabric during washing and rinsing.

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S.M. Mohan / Journal of Environmental Management 136 (2014) 103e111

1.2. Reuse of laundry rinsing water

Water has always played a major role in industrial laundry operations, as this universal solvent is required in large quantities for
the effective laundering of industrial garments and other textile
goods. On an average, a laundry uses 15 L of water to process 1 kg of
work and discharges 400 m3 of waste water daily. In the household
usage of water, 21.7% of the total water is used for laundry purpose
(Ciabatti et al., 2009).
Especially in the southern states of India, laundry accounts for
up to one fourth of the total water used. In every wash cycle (Shiv
Prasad, 2011), an average of 70% of the water is spent in rinsing. This
rinsing water is relatively clean and available in large volume;
therefore an interesting source for reuse. Laundry rinsing water can
be regarded as a valuable resource and not as a waste. If this waste
water could be treated and reused, it contributes towards
addressing demand for water. Laundry rinsing water has a great
potential in reducing water stress currently faced by many regions
of the world. Laundry waste water reuse is an effective measure for
saving water at the domestic level. Where water is scarce and
expensive, laundry rinsing water reuse may lead to considerable
economic benets.
In addition to addressing water demand, laundry water reuse
also poses a check on pollution as the amount of waste water discharged is reduced. The treated laundry rinsing water can be used
for doing laundry again, irrigation, cleaning purposes and so on.
The project is based on the above ideas. The objectives of the
project are stated as follows.
1. To design and fabricate a clariocculator which can accommodate 20 L of laundry rinsing water for the purpose of coagulation
and occulation.
2. To make use of naturally available material (Nirmali seed and
Orange peel pectin as coagulants and charcoal as adsorbent) in
the process of treatment.
3. To compare the efciencies of various treatment processes in
removing laundry waste surfactants and other major pollutants
from the laundry rinsing water.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Sample collection site
The sample taken for this study was laundry rinsing water. The
laundry rinsing water was collected from a residential household in
Madurai, a city in South India. The laundry rinsing water (type of
waste water got as a result of rinsing clothes after washing)
collected for the purpose of study is light to dark grey in color, with
lot of foam accumulated on the surface. The sample taken for the
study was collected immediately after washing.
The sample was only the rinsing water and not the washing
water. It is because the rinsing water is relatively cleaner and is
available in large volume compared to washing water. Rinsing
water collected from the rst two phases of rinsing cycles were
mixed to make 20 L of dirty water, for one experiment cycle.
Therefore, the study would directly relate to the potential reuse of
the treated laundry rinsing water generated from household and
not from commercial laundry units. However, the results of the
study will serve as reference for future research and practices
associated with laundry waste water treatment and reuse.
2.2. Natural coagulants and adsorbent used
Strychnos potatorum commonly known as clearing nut or Nirmali seed is a moderate sized tree found in southern and central

Fig. 1. (a) Fresh Orange peel showing the inner pith. (b). Separated pith. (c). Acidied
pith. (d). Acidied pith water. (e). Pectin extracted after boiling and ltration.

S.M. Mohan / Journal of Environmental Management 136 (2014) 103e111

parts of India, Srilanka and Burma. These seeds are widely used in
Ayurvedic and traditional medicine. Apart from medicinal properties the seeds are used by the rural community for clearing muddy
water. They are commercially available at a low cost and hence used
as one of the coagulants in the treatment process.
Citrus sinensis commonly known as Orange is grown extensively
throughout the world. A large portion of this production is
addressed to the industrial extraction of citrus juice which leads to
huge amounts of residues, including peels. Peels represent 50e60%
of the total weight of the fruit and remain as the primary byproduct. The Orange peels have numerous applications in food industry,
medicine, poultry, control of fungus and gram negative bacteria etc.
The pith (inner white skin) of the Orange peel contains appreciable
amounts of pectin and good amount of phytochemicals in it. It is
carefully separated from the peel, and pectin is extracted and used
as one of the coagulants in the treatment process.
Like Nirmali seed Orange peel too has some medicinal propriety.
Dried Orange peels can absorb humidity from brown sugar. Orange
peel contains many volatile oil glands in pits. Interior esh is
composed of segments called carpels, made up of numerous uid
lled vesicles that are actually specialized hair cells.
Charcoal is used as the adsorbing media in Granular Activated
Carbon (GAC) adsorption. Charcoal of bigger size is crushed using a
blender to a size of 1e3 mm and is then lled as the adsorbing
media inside a 50 mL burette. This acts as the Granular Activated
Carbon (GAC) adsorption unit in the treatment process. GAC is
prepared in the laboratory itself.
2.3. Extraction of pectin from Orange peel
To extract the pectin from the pith (inner white skin) of the
Orange peel, fresh Orange peels are collected and then the pith is
carefully separated from the peel using knife. The separated pith is
allowed to dry in room temperature till moisture is removed. The
dried pith is then weighed. To every 0.5 lbs (227 g approximately) of
the dried pith, 4 spoons of citric juice from lemon is added and
allowed to stand for an hour. 2 cups of water is then added and
allowed to stand for another hour. The mixture is then boiled for
10 min, cooled and drained using a muslin cloth. The ltrate is the
pectin extracted from the pith of the Orange peel. The extracted
pectin is used as the coagulant in the treatment process. These are
shown in Figure 1(a) e 1(e).
2.4. Treatment process
Laundry rinsing water is less polluted when compared to other
types of waste water. The impurities in the sample are found in the
forms of turbidity, solids and salts. In this framework, the present
experimentation refers to a lab-scale validation of a treatment
system for the reuse of laundry rinsing water generated from the
household. The treatment system consists of (i) Coagulatione
Flocculation, (ii) Sand Filtration and, (iii) Granular Activated Carbon
(GAC) Adsorption. The application of a physicochemical process
(coagulationeocculation) is normally insufcient to remove the
organic load from waste water (Njera Aguilar et al., 2011). Hence
downstream process was included. Adsorption is considered to be
one of the most promising and extensively used methods for the
removal of both inorganic and organic pollutants from waste water
(Prasad and Santhi, 2012). To alleviate pollution load to GAC, sand
ltration is included. Coagulation destabilizes small particles in
suspension. Flocculation consisting of polyelectrolyte (because of
natural coagulant) reinforces oc formation. These ocs are
removed in sand ltration. Anionic surfactant is well removed by
GAC adsorption. Hence these combinations were chosen to treat
laundry rinsing water.

105

2.5. Description of the treatment process

The laundry rinsing water sample taken for the study undergoes
coagulationeocculation process in the clariocculator. For the
process of coagulationeocculation, a clariocculator was designed
and fabricated to accommodate 20 L of laundry rinsing water. A total
of 4 experiments were conducted in batch process by varying the
coagulants used. Length, width and depth of the reactor (including
free board of 0.05 m) were taken as 0.5, 0.2 and 0.25 m respectively.
The diameter of the inlet, outlet pipe and sludge discharge pipe were
taken as 20 mm. Slow and rapid mixing were done in the same
reactor, slow mixing was done in 1 h and rapid mixing was done in
1 min. Slow and rapid mixing were done at 10 rpm and 200 rpm
respectively. A movable handle was connected to a sludge scrapping
plate at the bottom to remove sludge and discharge it to the sludge
outlet pipe. Outlet pipe was xed at the end of the reactor. Fig. 2
depicts the reactor setup used for this study.
Clarioculator is designed to treat 20 L of the sample with
natural coagulants of plant origin. The optimum dosage required
for coagulation is added to the sample. After retention time of 24 h
the claried sample is allowed to pass through the sand bed that is
lled in a column of diameter 9 cm, height of the sand layer being
70 cm and the granulation of the sand grains being 0.5e2 mm. The
sand bed is supported on a gravel bed which is about 15 cm in
height (Good Care Enviro System Pvt Ltd). The contact time is 6 min
in the sand lter unit. The permeate from the sand lter is again
adsorbed on a burette lled with Granular Activated Carbon (GAC),
here again the contact time is 6 min and the granulation of the GAC
is 1e3 mm. GAC was prepared from coconut shells in the laboratory
itself.
2.5.1. Laundry rinsing water treatment with Nirmali seed
The seeds of the plant species S. potatorum are used as coagulant
in the rst experiment of treating the laundry rinsing water. Jar test
is conducted to obtain information on the optimum dosage of the
coagulant. Maximum turbidity is removed in the jar where 8 g of
seed is added to 1 L of laundry rinsing water. This dosage is adapted
to coagulate 20 L of laundry rinsing water. Rapid and slow mixing
are done at 200 rpm and 10 rpm respectively. This setup is suspended for a retention time of 24 h. After that the permeate is
ltered through the sand bed for a retention time of 6 min and
again the ltrate from the sand lter is passed through the GAC
adsorption for a retention time of 6 min. The pollutant removal
efciency in each of the treatment process is then analyzed. Bina
et al. (2009) have noted that the production of potable water
from most raw water sources is possible due to the use of a coagulationeocculation stage to remove turbidity in the form of suspended and colloidal material.
2.5.2. Laundry rinsing water treatment with Nirmali seed and
Orange peel pectin
The coagulant used in the second experiment of treating the
laundry rinsing water is a blend of 80% of optimum dosage of
S.potatorum seeds and 20% of pectin extracted from the pith of the
C. sinensis peel. Subsequent operations are performed as mentioned
before. With the help of hypothetical knowledge, it might be presumed that this analysis would show better results compared to the
previous experiment. Hence, in the third experiment, the retention
time in the clariocculator is increased to 36 h; the coagulated
permeate is allowed to pass through the sand lter followed by GAC
adsorption and the corresponding results are analyzed.
2.5.3. Laundry rinsing water treatment with Orange peel pectin
The coagulant used in the fourth experiment of treating the
laundry rinsing water is the pectin extracted from the pith of the C.

106

S.M. Mohan / Journal of Environmental Management 136 (2014) 103e111

Fig. 2. fabricated Clariocculator.

sinensis peel. Jar test is conducted to know the optimum dosage of

the coagulant. The optimum dosage is found to be 6 mL/L. Downstream is conducted as in the previous case.
As the project deals with waste water treatment, certain water
quality parameters such as COD, pH, electrical conductivity,
turbidity, TSS, anionic active surfactant (as MBAS) have been
analyzed to know the pollutant removal efciency of every treatment process conducted on the lab-scale. These parameters were
determined according to standard methods of examination of water and waste water. Anionic active surfactant as Methylene Blue
Active Substances (MBAS) is determined as per ISO7875-1.
In this study, performance of the experiment was judged based
on removal efciency. Jar test was conducted to decide optimal
dose to be applied. Sludge production was discarded as much as
produced.
3. Results and discussion
Raw inuent (untreated laundry rinsing water) parameters such
as COD, pH, electrical conductivity, turbidity, TSS, anionic active
surfactant (as Methylene Blue Active Substances) have been
analyzed in the laboratory and are shown in Table 1.
In order to monitor their contribution to the overall performance of the treatment system, water quality parameters are
measured by means of sampling of both the prototype inuent and
the outlet of different treatment sections.
The pollutant removal efciency (h) in each treatment section is
calculated according to the equation:

h% C0  CF =C0  100

(1)

where C0 e Initial Concentration of the Pollutant

CF e Final Concentration of the Pollutant

h e Pollutant Removal Efciency in Percentage

Table 1 reports the values of parameters of the inuent (untreated laundry rinsing water), clariocculator efuent, sand lter
efuent and GAC adsorption efuent of the treatment system
where Nirmali seeds are used as coagulant.
Table 2 reports the values of parameters of the inuent (untreated laundry rinsing water), clariocculator efuent, sand lter
efuent and GAC adsorption efuent of the treatment system
where Nirmali seeds along with the pectin extracted from the pith
of the Orange peel is used as coagulant at a retention time of 24 h.

Table 1
Values of parameters in the treatment process where Nirmali seeds (8 g/L) are used
as coagulant at a retention time of 24 h.
Parameters

Inuent Clariocculator Sand lter GAC adsorption

efuent
efuent
efuent

Turbidity, NTU
94
73
pH
7.6
7.1
Electrical
1492
1528
conductivity, mS/cm
TSS, mg/L
98
87
COD, mg/L
524
419
0.82
0.64
Anionic Active
Surfactant
(as MBAS), mg/L

31.4
7.7
1453
40
313
0.38

4.2
8.3
1451
24
258
0.03

Table 3 reports the values of parameters of the inuent (untreated laundry rinsing water), clariocculator efuent, sand lter
efuent and GAC adsorption efuent of the treatment system
where Nirmali seeds along with the pectin extracted from the pith
of the Orange peel is used as coagulant at a retention time of 36 h.
Table 4 reports the value of parameters of the inuent (untreated laundry rinsing water), clariocculator efuent, sand lter
efuent and GAC adsorption efuent of the treatment system
where pectin extracted from the pith of the Orange peel is used as
coagulant at a retention time of 24 h.
Reproducibility of results had been ensured by taking parallel
samples from efuent of each unit. Required parameters have been
analyzed in the laboratory on parallel samples. Result deviation was
not much more (less than  3%). Furthermore, experiments were
conducted under controlled conditions (batch mode in clariocculator, 6 min contact time for both sand lter and GAC unit).
Table 2
Values of important parameters in the treatment process where Nirmali seeds
(6.4 g/L) along with the Pectin extracted from the pith of the Orange peel (1.6 mL/L)
is used as coagulant at a retention time of 24 h.
Inuent Clariocculator Sand lter GAC adsorption
efuent
efuent
efuent
Turbidity, NTU
143
118
pH
7.3
6.2
Electrical
1512
1488
conductivity, mS/cm
TSS, mg/L
108
92
COD, mg/L
668
556
1.42
1.2
Anionic Active
Surfactant
(as MBAS), mg/L

83
6.5
1391
42
403
0.49

15
7
1315
20
291
0.32

S.M. Mohan / Journal of Environmental Management 136 (2014) 103e111

Table 3
Values of parameters in the treatment process where Nirmali seeds (6.4 g/L) along
with the Pectin extracted from the pith of the orange peel (1.6 mL/L) is used as
coagulant at a retention time of 36 h.
Parameters

Inuent Clariocculator Sand lter GAC adsorption

efuent
efuent
efuent

Turbidity, NTU
143
96
pH
7.3
6.3
1512
1361
Electrical
conductivity, mS/cm
TSS, mg/L
108
44
COD, mg/L
668
554
1.42
0.6
Anionic Active
Surfactant
(as MBAS), mg/L

45
6.8
1320
32
343
0.28

10
7.2
1226
17
247
0.06

With similar conditions, it cant be expected more deviations for

obtained results.
3.1. Treatment with Nirmali seed as coagulant at a retention time of
24 h
Fig. 3 shows that the purication system reached a good overall
removal efciency of TSS (75%) and turbidity (95%). The sand
ltration played a major role in removing these parameters
(removal efciency of 54% and 57% for TSS and turbidity, respectively). The role of GAC adsorption in the removal of turbidity was
much appreciable because 86% of turbidity was removed at the GAC
adsorption unit alone. It showed the importance of GAC adsorption
in the treatment process. It must also be noted that 40% of TSS was
removed at the GAC adsorption. But the main contribution was
from the sand ltration unit as 54% of TSS was removed in this unit
alone. This has helped to attain 75% of TSS removal from the overall
system.
Fig. 4 shows a decrease in the anionic surfactant; a removal
efciency of 96% was obtained with the overall system. Nearly 40%
of anionic surfactant was removed at the sand ltration unit and
22% of removal was attained after the coagulation process. GAC
adsorption played a main role in the removal of anionic surfactant
from the laundry rinsing water as 92% of removal was obtained
from GAC unit alone. GAC adsorption was found to be very effective
in removing about 92% of anionic surfactant and 86% of turbidity.
The pore size of the carbon and the adherence of molecules to the
inner walls of the carbon may be the reason for the results produced. The granulation of the charcoal (1e3 mm) may be another
factor of inuence in removing these pollutants. A contact time of
6 min may also be attributed to this result. The retention time may
be varied to get the desired result in further research work. The
inuent of the GAC adsorption unit is a pre-treated permeates of
coagulationeocculation and sand ltration. Hence the TSS in the
GAC inuent is less and this may be another reason for the effective
removal of the pollutant without any problem of clogging the
carbon pores. The pH at which the adsorption has taken place is
around 7.7, which is close to the optimal condition (pH 8) for the
removal of anionic surfactant (Sibel Zor, 2004).
In the treatment process where Nirmali seeds are used as
coagulant, COD removal efciency of 51% is obtained with the
overall system. Fig. 4 shows the COD removal efciency with the
overall system. The contribution of coagulation to COD removal is
20%. After sand ltration COD removal efciency is 40%. This is
possible because nearly 25% of COD is removed at the sand lter
unit alone and 18% of COD removal is attained at the GAC adsorption unit. Because of addition of Nirmali seed in the reactor, organic
matter might react with the seed to produce particulate intermediate. Sand ltration might have helped to remove this particulate

107

matter, in turn its associated COD. Tiny particulate matter (which

escaped from sand lter) is removed in GAC. Further more, GAC is
capable of eliminating dissolved organic matter. This could be the
reason for notable COD removal in GAC.
Nirmali seed extracts are anionic polyelectrolytes that destabilize particles in water by means of interparticle bridging. Previous
studies have established that the seed extracts also contain lipids,
carbohydrates and alkaloids containing the eCOOH and free eOH
surface groups which enhance the coagulation capability. Presence
of copious amount of eOH groups along chains of galactomannan
and galactan provides weakly, but abundant adsorption sites. They
ultimately lead to the coagulant interparticle bridging effect. They
are reported to be very effective as natural coagulant aids. This
property is attributed because of the presence of polyelectrolyte,
proteins, lipids, carbohydrates and alkaloids containing the eCOOH
and free eOH surface groups in the seed (Babu and Chaudhuri,
2005).
As mentioned, the presence of eCOOH and free eOH groups in
the seed may be responsible for the removal of particulates from
the laundry rinsing water. Optimal dosage is an important factor for
the removal of pollutants. Over dosing of coagulant can never
clarify the water further instead it only stabilizes the formed ocs.
So dosage is very much important. To nd out optimum dosage Jar
test is conducted in the laboratory. By varying the dosages of Nirmali seed in 1 L jar (2 g, 4 g, 6 g, 8 g, 10 g, and 12 g), settled sludge
was noted. It was obtained as 52, 73,101,120,104,95 mL respectively.
From this, it can be said that maximum removal is obtained when
8 g of Nirmali seed is used. Hence, in this experiment optimum
dosage of 8 g/L is fed to the clariocculator. This has helped the
system in removing 22% of turbidity, 11% of TSS, 20% of COD and
22% of anionic surfactant from the inuent. Also the abundance of
adsorption sites in the coagulant may be the reason for the removal
of COD and anionic surfactant. On the whole, adsorption and charge
neutralization, adsorption and interparticle bridging may be the
reason behind the removal of pollutants.
Rapid mixing is done to properly disperse the coagulant and
promote particle collisions to achieve good coagulation. Enough
mixing is given to ensure proper dispersion of coagulants. In this
experiment rapid mixing for 1 min at 200 rpm has helped in
dispersing the coagulant equally. By this way the coagulation process was successful in removing the major pollutants from the
inuent. Apart from coagulation, occulation requires careful
attention to the mixing velocity. To prevent the oc from tearing
apart or shearing, the mixing velocity and energy input are usually
tapered off as the size of the oc increases. For this reason occulation was done at 10 rpm. Large mixing velocity for short time
period tend to produce small dense ocs, while low mixing velocity
and longer time period produce larger lighter ocs. Since large,
dense ocs are most easily removed in the reactor, it may be advantageous to taper mixing velocity along the length of the reactor
(Howard Peavy et al., 1985). Rapid mixing at 200 rpm and slow
mixing at 10 rpm helped in forming larger ocs followed by their
settling.
A settling time of 24 h was sufcient to settle the coagulated
sludge in this experiment. Generally a day or more was given as the
settling time for a plant based coagulant. This experiment which
followed a settling time of 24 h was efcient in removing turbidity,
TSS, anionic surfactant and COD from the laundry rinsing water.
Sand ltration alone played a major role in removing more than
half of the turbidity and TSS from the laundry rinsing water. This
may be possible because of the effective grain size (0.5e2 mm) of
the lter media (sand) and the contact time taken for purication
(6 min). Suspended particles which were larger than the grain size
of the sand are removed easily by straining. By this way the ocs
that failed to settle in the clariocculator were removed at the sand

S.M. Mohan / Journal of Environmental Management 136 (2014) 103e111

Table 4
Values of parameters in the treatment process where Pectin extracted from the pith
of the Orange peel alone (6 mL/L) is used as coagulant at a retention time of 24 h.
Parameters

Inuent Clariocculator Sand lter GAC adsorption

efuent
efuent
efuent

Turbidity, NTU
83
70
pH
8.2
5.4
Electrical
1491
1500
conductivity, mS/cm
TSS, mg/L
121
76
COD, mg/L
588
462
0.84
0.68
Anionic Active
Surfactant
(as MBAS), mg/L

48
5.7
1482

16
6
1424

120

R e m o v a l e ffi c i e n c y (% )

108

COD

40

ANIONIC SURFACTANT
(as MBAS)

20

clariflocculator
euent

sand filter euent

GAC adsorp on
euent

Fig. 4. Removal efciency of COD, Anionic Surfactant from laundry rinsing water
where Nirmali seeds are used as coagulant at a retention time of 24hrs.

In this treatment process, 56% of COD removal efciency is obtained with the overall system. Removal of 51% of COD is obtained
when only Nirmali seed is used. This clearly reveals that the combination of Nirmali seed and pectin extracted from the pith of Orange peel has a reasonable effect on COD removal. Fig. 6 shows the
COD removal efciency with the overall system. The contribution of
coagulation to COD removal is 17%. After sand ltration COD
removal efciency is 40%. This is possible because nearly 27.5% of
COD is removed at the sand ltration unit alone and 28% of COD
removal is attained at the GAC adsorption unit.
Fig. 5 shows that the purication system reached a good
removal efciency of TSS (81.5%) and turbidity (89.5%). Sand
ltration played a major role in removing these parameters
(removal efciency was 54.3% for TSS and 30% for turbidity). In
Fig. 5, the overall percentage removal of Turbidity/TSS is given. The

role of GAC adsorption in the removal of turbidity was notable as

82% of turbidity was removed at the GAC adsorption unit alone. It
revealed the importance of GAC adsorption in the treatment process. It must also be noted that 52.4% of TSS was removed at the
GAC adsorption. Overall, this helped to attain 81.5% of TSS removal.
Fig. 6 shows a decrease in the anionic surfactant; a mean
removal efciency of 77.5% was obtained with the overall system.
Nearly 60% of anionic surfactant was removed at the sand ltration
unit. 15.5% of removal was attained after the coagulation process.
Only 35% of anionic surfactant was removed at the GAC adsorption
unit. The two principal mechanisms by which activated carbon
removes contaminants from water are adsorption and catalytic
reduction. Adsorptive properties of activated carbon are used to
remove organics. Generally, adsorption takes place because all
molecules exert forces to adhere to each other. Activated carbon
adsorbs organic material because the attractive forces between the
carbon surface (non-polar) and the contaminant (non-polar) are
stronger than the forces keeping the contaminant dissolved in
water (polar). The large surface area of the activated carbon is due
to its particle size and pore conguration that allow adsorption to
take place. The activated carbon is also capable of removing residual disinfectants (chlorine and chloramines) through a catalytic
reduction reaction which involves a transfer of electrons from the
activated carbon surface to the residual disinfectant. In other
words, it acts as a reducing agent.
The dosing of coagulant (80% of optimum dosage of Nirmali
seed 20% of pectin extracts) may also be the reason behind this
result. The settling time of 24 h in the clariocculator may be the
reason for the formation of larger ocs followed by the settlement.
Compared to the previous experiment, the TSS removal after
coagulationeocculation is found to be high. The reason behind
this may be the adherence of suspended solids to the larger ocs
which are formed due to the presence of pectin. The reason why the
ocs formed in this experiment are larger than the ocs formed in
the previous experiment is not known clearly. But the observation
of the formed ocs in both the experiment makes a difference.

100
80
60

TURBIDITY

40

TSS

20
0
GAC adsorp on
euent

Fig. 3. Removal efciency of Turbidity, TSS from laundry rinsing water where Nirmali
seeds are used as coagulant at a retention time of 24hrs.

R e m o v a l e ffi c i e n c y (% )

120

R e m o v a l e ffi c i e n c y ( % )

60

22
226
0.08

3.2. Treatment with Nirmali seed and Orange peel pectin as

coagulant at a retention time of 24 h

sand filter euent

80

43
324
0.26

lter. Formation of dirty skin on the surface of the media may be the
reason for further removal of TSS and turbidity. Removal of COD
and anionic surfactant may be due to charge neutralization between the inuent of the sand lter and the dirty skin layer formation (Campos et al., 2002). Natural coagulants were partially
used to enhance oc formation and the remaining untreated coagulants settled as sludge. Untreated natural coagulants were discarded as sludge in the reactor itself. Hence contribution of natural
coagulants to COD became insignicant and their impact was not
considered in sand ltration and GAC.
It is imperative to fully grasp the coagulation mechanisms
associated with natural coagulants so that a complete understanding of their usage can be realized. Aggregation of particulates
in a solution can occur via four classic coagulation mechanisms: (a)
Double Layer Compression; (b) Sweep Flocculation; (c) Adsorption
and Charge Neutralization; and (d) Adsorption and Interparticle
Bridging (Vijayaraghavan et al., 2011).

clariflocculator euent

100

100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

TURBIDITY
TSS

clariocculator euent

sand lter euent

GAC adsorpon
euent

Fig. 5. Removal efciency of Turbidity, TSS from laundry rinsing water where Nirmali
seeds and Orange peel Pectin is used as coagulant at a retention time of 24hrs.

109

120

90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

COD
ANIONIC SURFACTANT
(as MBAS)

R e m o v a l e ffi c i e n c y (% )

R e m o v a l e ffi c i e n c y (% )

S.M. Mohan / Journal of Environmental Management 136 (2014) 103e111

100
80
60

COD

40

ANIONIC SURFACTANT
(as MBAS)

20
0

clariocculator
euent

sand lter euent

clariflocculator
euent

GAC adsorpon
euent

sand filter euent

GAC adsorp on
euent

Fig. 8. Removal efciency of COD, Anionic Surfactant from laundry rinsing water
where Nirmali seeds and Orange peel Pectin is used as coagulant at a retention time of
36hrs.

GAC adsorption is found to be effective in removing 82% of

turbidity and 52.4% of TSS. The pore size in the carbon and the
adherence of molecules to the inner walls of the carbon may be the
reason for the results produced and also the residual pectin may be
the reason behind binding the suspended impurities to form larger
ocs followed by the adsorption. The granulation of the charcoal
(1e3 mm) may be another factor of inuence in removing turbidity.
A contact time of 6 min may also be the reason for this result.
The adsorption of anionic surfactant is less when compared to
the previous experiment, this may be because initially, there will be
a large number of vacant active binding sites in the GAC adsorption
unit. They got limited due to previous experiment cycles and the
pollutant could not occupy remaining vacant surface sites due to
the formation of repulsive forces between the pollutants on the
solid surface and the liquid phase. Besides, the meso-pores become
saturated at the initial stage of adsorption due to the accumulation
of larger pollutants. As a result, the driving force of mass transfer
between liquid and solid phase in an aqueous adsorption system
decreases as time elapses (Hassani et al., 2008).

alone. These results have shown the importance of GAC adsorption,

and sand ltration in the treatment process.
Fig. 8 shows a decrease in the anionic surfactant; a mean
removal efciency of 95.7% was obtained with the overall system.
Nearly 78.5% of anionic surfactant was removed at the GAC
adsorption unit. 57.7% of removal was attained after the coagulation
process and also 53.3% of anionic surfactant was removed during
sand ltration. Discussion in the previous section is applicable here
also.
The dosing of coagulant (80% of optimum dosage of Nirmali
seed 20% of pectin extracts) may also be the reason for this result.
The settling time of 36 h in the clariocculator may also be the
reason for the formation of larger ocs followed by their settlement. As compared to the previous experiment, the TSS, turbidity
and anionic surfactant removal after coagulationeocculation was
found to be very high. The reason behind this may be the increase
in the retention time by 12 h. The adherence of suspended solids to
the previously formed ocs may also be the reason for TSS removal.
Sand ltration has alone played a role in removing more than
half of the anionic surfactant (53.3%) and turbidity (53%) from the
laundry rinsing water; also 38% of COD was removed at this unit.
This result may be possible because of the effective grain size of
0.5e2 mm of the lter media (sand), the contact time taken for
purication (6 min) and the formation of dirty skin on the surface of
the media due to previous experimental runs. The reason behind
53.3% of anionic surfactant removal at the sand ltration is not well
known; it may be due to charge neutralization between the inuent
of the sand lter and the dirty skin layer.
GAC adsorption was found to be effective in removing 77.7% of
turbidity and 47% of TSS. The pore size in the carbon and the
adherence of molecules to carbon may be the reason for the results
produced; the residual pectin may be the reason behind binding
the suspended impurities to form larger ocs followed by their
adsorption. The granulation of charcoal (1e3 mm) and contact time
may be another factor of inuence in removing turbidity. The

3.3. Treatment with Nirmali seed and Orange peel pectin as

coagulant at a retention time of 36 h

R e m o v a l e ffi c i e n c y (% )

In this case, the COD removal efciency of 63% was obtained

with the overall system. The contribution of coagulation to COD
removal is 17.06%. After sand ltration overall COD removal efciency was 48.6%. This was possible because nearly 38% of COD was
removed at the sand lter unit alone. 28% of COD removal was
attained at the GAC adsorption alone.
Fig. 7 shows that the purication system also reached a good
overall removal efciency of TSS (84.25%) and turbidity (93%). The
GAC adsorption played a major role in removing these parameters
(removal efciency is 47% for TSS and 77.7% for turbidity). The role
of sand ltration in the removal of turbidity was much appreciable;
nearly 53% of turbidity was removed at the sand ltration unit

100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

TURBIDITY
TSS

clariflocculator euent

sand filter euent

GAC adsorp on
euent

Fig. 7. Removal efciency of Turbidity, TSS from laundry rinsing water where Nirmali
seeds and Orange peel Pectin is used as coagulant at a retention time of 36hrs.

R e m o v a l e ffi c i e n c y (% )

Fig. 6. Removal efciency of COD, Anionic Surfactant from laundry rinsing water
where Nirmali seeds and Orange peel Pectin is used as coagulant at a retention time of
24hrs.

90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

TURBIDITY
TSS

clariflocculator euent

sand filter euent

GAC adsorp on
euent

Fig. 9. Removal efciency of Turbidity, TSS from laundry rinsing water where Orange
peel Pectin is used as coagulant at a retention time of 24hrs.

110

S.M. Mohan / Journal of Environmental Management 136 (2014) 103e111

adsorption of anionic surfactant is also good (78.5%) when

compared to the previous experiment.
Natural coagulants are used in coagulationeoculation unit
alone which could enhance oc formation. In this research work,
coagulation played an important role in the removal of turbidity/
TSS. This could be well supported by observing the percent removal
of those parameters. Most of the turbidity/TSS is removed by GAC/
sand ltration in the experiment 1, 2 and 4. But in experiment 3
where Nirmali seeds with pectin extracted from the pith of Orange
peel are used as coagulant, percent removal of TSS is higher than
that of GAC/sand lter. These results could be attributed to the
increase in the retention time by 12 h.
3.4. Treatment with Orange peel pectin as coagulant at a retention
time of 24 h

R e m o v a l e ffi c i e n c y (% )

In this treatment process, COD removal efciency of 61.5% is

obtained with the overall system. Fig. 10 shows COD removal efciency with the overall system. The contribution of coagulation to
COD removal is 21.4%. After sand ltration COD removal efciency is
45%. This is because, nearly 30% of COD is removed at the sand lter
unit alone. 30.2% of COD removal is attained at the GAC adsorption.
Fig. 9 shows a good overall removal efciency of TSS (82%) and
turbidity (80.7%) in the purication system. The GAC adsorption
played a major role in removing these parameters (removal efciency is 49% for TSS and 66.6% for turbidity). These results have
shown the importance of GAC adsorption in the treatment process.
37.2% of TSS and 15.6% of turbidity are removed at coagulation.
43.4% of TSS and 31.4% of turbidity is removed at sand ltration.
Fig. 10 shows a decrease in the anionic surfactant; a removal
efciency of 90.4% is obtained with the overall system. Nearly 69.2%
of anionic surfactant was removed at the GAC adsorption unit.
61.7% of removal is attained at the sand ltration unit. Also 19% of
anionic surfactant is removed at coagulation. Sand ltration and
GAC adsorption are the reasons behind this result.
The settling time of 24 h in the clariocculator may be the
reason for the formation of larger ocs followed by settlement. The
adherence of suspended solids to the previously formed ocs may
be the reason for TSS removal. The removal of COD and TSS are
found to be higher compared to experiment 1 and experiment 2.
The presence of active binding sites in the pectin extract may be the
reason for this result. From these results it is evident that pectin
extracted from Orange peel is efcient in removing COD, TSS and
anionic surfactant.
Sand ltration has alone played a role in removing more than
half of the anionic surfactant (61.7%) from the laundry rinsing
water; also 43.4% of TSS is removed at this unit. The reason behind
61.7% removal of anionic surfactant may be due to the residual
pectin in the sand lter inuent. The presence of active binding
sites may also be the reason for this result. Removal of TSS, turbidity
in sand ltration is less and the reason behind this is not known.
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

COD
ANIONIC SURFACTANT
(as MBAS)

clariflocculator
euent

sand filter euent

GAC adsorp on
euent

Fig. 10. Removal efciency of COD, Anionic Surfactant from laundry rinsing water
where Orange peel Pectin is used as coagulant at a retention time of 24 h.

Table 5
Concentration of each pollutant at the end of the treatment (Ci).
Parameters

Experiment 1 Experiment 2 Experiment 3 Experiment 4

TSS (mg/L)
24
Turbidity (NTU)
4.2
COD (mg/L)
258
Anionic
0.03
Surfactant (mg/L)

20
15
291
0.32

17
10
247
0.06

22
16
226
0.08

GAC adsorption is found to be effective in removing 66.6% of

turbidity, 69.2% of anionic surfactant and 49% of TSS. The pore size
in the carbon and the adherence of molecules to the carbon may be
the reason for the results produced and also the residual pectin may
be the reason behind binding the suspended impurities to form
larger ocs followed by the adsorption. The removal of COD in GAC
adsorption unit is high compared to the previous experiment; again
the granulation and the contact time of 6 min may be ascribed to
this result.
3.5. Determination of the most efcient treatment system
In order to nd out the most efcient treatment system,
weighted mean formula was applied. It is given in Equation (2).n

Xj

n
X

Wi Ci =Wi

(2)

i1

i 1where, Wi Weightage given to each pollutant

Ci Concentration of each pollutant at the end of the treatment
i 1,2,...n
Xj Weighing factor for jth experiment
j Experiment number
Priority of pollutants was arbitrarily chosen in this study. The
most sensitive pollutant which could damage an aqueous system is
anionic surfactant. Hence it is given top priority by assigning a
weightage of 4. Next is COD as it is capable of depleting dissolved
oxygen in aqueous system. Turbidity hampers natural aeration.
Eventually least importance is given to TSS. Hence a weightage of 1
is assigned to it. Based on the priority of the pollutants the
weightage (Wi) is given as follows:

TSS
1
Turbidity
2
COD
3
Anionic surfactant

Table 5 shows the concentration of each pollutant at the end of

each experiment. With these values along with the above weightages, the weighing factor for each experiment conducted can be
found using the Equation (2). From this value the most efcient
treatment system can be found.
The value of weighing factor for experiment 1, 2, 3 and 4 were
obtained as 80.65, 92.42, 77.82 and 73.23 respectively.
Based on the weighing factor values, it can be concluded that the
most efcient treatment system among the experiments conducted
is the one where Orange peel pectin is used as a coagulant at a
retention time of 24 h (Experiment 4).
As far as Indian scenario is concerned, there has been no standard prescribed for reuse of treated laundry rinsing water. However, Indian Standard IS 2490(Part I):1981 has been followed to
evaluate quality of treated laundry rinsing water. This standard
deals with permissible limit for industry efuent that discharges

S.M. Mohan / Journal of Environmental Management 136 (2014) 103e111

into inland surface water. Treated efuent values are within the
limit in comparison with this standard.
3.6. Comments on head loss and residual COD
Over a period of time, increase in head loss was quite inevitable.
This was due to clogging of TSS in the pores of sand lter. After
clariocculator, claried sample is fully allowed to pass through the
sand bed. Then permeate from the sand lter is adsorbed with GAC
unit. After each experiment, fresh sand lter and GAC unit were
introduced. Because of the head loss, ow rate is adjusted to bet
the contact time. Since this was a lab scale experiment, aforesaid
procedure was followed. But when it comes to full scale application,
periodical cleaning of sand lter and regeneration/replacement of
GAC are required. The point to stress here is, when typical character
of waste water, if it is subjected to similar operating conditions
(batch mode in clariocculator, contact time of 6 min both sand
lter and GAC unit) prescribed efuent quality would be obtained.
As mentioned in Section 1.2, treated laundry rinsing water can
be used for doing laundry again, irrigation (not for edible crops),
cleaning purposes etc., Residual COD might not be signicant, if
treated waste water is used for aforesaid purposes. After multiple
reuse, even if treated waste water is to be discharged into inland
surface water, this residual COD is within the limit as prescribed by
IS 2490(Part I):1981. If it is needed to reduce efuent COD
furthermore, Ultra ltration (UF) could be introduced in the
downstream after GAC unit. As discussed before, because of addition of natural coagulant, in the reactor, organic matter might react
with seed to produce particulate intermediate. Sand lter and GAC
unit have helped in reducing particulate matter, in turn its associated COD.
4. Summary and conclusion
Lower turbidity of the treated water indicates better removal of
organic and inorganic contaminants. Efcient removal of particulates can improve the overall water quality. Here in this study
where Nirmali seeds are used as coagulant, 75.5% of TSS and 95.5%
of turbidity are removed from the inuent, which means the
resulting treated water has good quality. The core ingredient of a
detergent product is the surfactant. Anionic surfactant is generally
more in composition in a detergent and also they are toxic in nature
which causes environmental risks when disposed. In this experiment 96.3% of anionic surfactant has been removed from the
overall treatment system, when Nirmali seeds are used as coagulant. This indicates that the treated water is risk free if disposed into
the environment. Although COD removal of 50% from the overall
system is not much appreciable, still the treatment system is efcient in removing many pollutants from the laundry rinsing water.
In the experiment where Nirmali seeds along with the pectin
extracted from the pith of the Orange peel is used as coagulant, at a
retention time of 24 h, 89.5% of turbidity and 81.5% of TSS are

111

removed from the inuent; though the turbidity removal efciency

is less but TSS removal is higher when compared to the previous
experiment. 56.4% of COD is removed from the overall treatment
system which is high when compared to the previous experiment.
Anionic surfactant removal efciency of 77.4% was obtained with
the overall system. Increase in retention time in the clariocculator
was adapted to bring down the concentration of the pollutants,
especially the anionic surfactant.
Increase in retention time by 12 h to the previous experiment
gave good results. The resulting treated water is less turbid, less in
anionic surfactant content and has less suspended impurities when
compared to other experiments.
The efciency of pectin extracted from the pith of the Orange
peel as coagulant in removing pollutants was tested and discussed
at a retention time of 24 h.
Based on the weighing factor values, it can be concluded that the
most efcient treatment system among the experiments conducted
is the one where Orange peel pectin is used as coagulant at a
retention time of 24 h (Experiment 4). It can also be concluded that
the treatment of laundry rinsing water by a combination of coagulationeocculation, sand ltration and GAC adsorption results in a
better water quality.
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