Reduction of Biological Contaminants from Municipal Wastewater by Encapsulated nZVI in Alginate (Ag) Polymer: Reduction Mechanism with Artificial Intelligence Approach

Nanotechnology especially Zero Valent metals is a modern technology for the degradation of extensive ranges of biological wastewater contaminants. Due to their effectiveness, economically and safely properties, this study successfully prepared and characterized nanoZero Valent Iron (nZVI) to be encapsulated into natural alginate biopolymer. The effect of operating parameters was studied at different environmental conditions; pH, dose (g/L), contact time (min), stirring rate (rpm), and BOD concentrations. Adsorption isotherm, kinetic studies, and statistical analysis (Response Surface Methodology (RSM) and Artificial neural networks (ANNs)) were examined to describe the removal behavior. The obtained results indicated that the maximum removal efficiency was 81.2 % for initial BOD concentration 300 mg/L, at pH 7, using wet dose 3g/L, 25min, and stirring rate 200 rpm. Also, adsorption and kinetic data indicated that the adsorption mechanism runs toward the Sips model to approximate the Freundlich model at low concentration and to solve the Freundlich limitation at high concentration with a maximum adsorption capacity of 181mg/g. Kinetic results describe the solid transformation from one phase to another at a constant temperature by approving Avrami model. Finally, RSM results agree with ANNs results that the “Concentration effect” is the most significant variable that controls the removal efficiency.