Treatment of laundry wastewater using extracellular polymeric substances (EPS)

The problem of management and treatment of wastewater from commercial laundries is a matter of concern. The present study provides an effective and eco-friendly solution to the treatment of wastewater from commercial laundries in Quebec (Canada) by using the extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) as a bio-flocculant. EPS was produced from the valorization of crude glycerol and paper mill sludge by a bacterial strain (BS-04). Two different types of EPS: Slime EPS (S-EPS) and Broth EPS (B-EPS) were used for the treatment of commercial laundry wastewater (CLWW). This is the first study for the treatment of CLWW using bio-flocculant EPS. A comparison between the conventional treatment of laundry wastewater (LWW) by chemical coagulants (FeSO 4 , CaCl 2 , Alum) and enhanced treatment by bio-flocculant EPS has been drawn in the study. Moreover, LWW treatment by a combination of EPS and chemical coagulants was also investigated. It was observed that S-EPS (0.6 g/L) gave better flocculation activity (FA) than B-EPS. S-EPS alone can remove 83.20% of turbidity, 77.69% of suspended solids (SS), and 76.37% of chemical oxygen demand (COD). The best results were obtained by combining S-EPS (0.6 g/L) with alum (300 mg/L) at pH 7 for a treatment time of 30 min. This combination was able to remove 98% of turbidity, 95.42% of SS, and 83.08% of COD from LWW. When treatment time has been increased to 4 h at pH 7, it resulted in more than 88% COD removal from CLWW. Graphical Abstract