Experimental investigation of refinery wastewater treatment using brown seaweed (Sargassum ilicifolium)

Treatment of refinery wastewater is very significant to protect the downstream users from health risks and to meet the ever increasing water demand. Seaweeds are one of the most common adsorbent and biofilters used for treating industrial effluent, due to its excellent properties such as availability in large quantities, contain a variety of functional groups, low-cost and eco-friendly. In this research, naturally found brown seaweeds “Sargassum ilicifolium” was employed in the batch treatment of refinery wastewater in a most efficient, cost-effective and environmentally friendly way. The surface morphological characterizations of the algae before and after treatment are carried out using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). A series of batch experimental studies were carried out for the removal of pollutants from refinery wastewater by varying the effluent solution pH, mixing time, stirring speed, dosage of algae and temperature of the effluent solution. The pollutant removal efficiency was assessed by measuring the chemical oxygen demand (COD), total dissolved solids (TDS), total suspended solids (TSS), turbidity and dissolved oxygen (DO) of the effluent before and after treatment. The study demonstrates that the optimum efficiency of the treatment process are pH 5.0, 75 minutes of stirring time, 0.6 g of Sargassum ilicifolium, 125 RPM stirring speed and a solution temperature of 35˚C. The experimental result of the study demonstrates that the brown seaweed Sargassum ilicifolium was found to be an ecofriendly and inexpensive adsorbentfor the effective removal of contaminants from refinery effluent. Sargassum ilicifolium showed excellent pollution removal efficiency by significantly reducing the chemical oxygen demand by 84.9%, dissolved oxygen 80%, turbidity 78.05%, dissolved solids 78.3% and suspended matter 78.70%.