Treatment of sugar beet extraction juice stillage by natural coagulants extracted from common bean

Abstract

Distillery wastewaters have a great pollution potential, and pollution caused by them is one of the most critical environmental issues. This study is concerned with the coagulationefficiency of a new, environmental friendly, natural coagulant extracted from common bean seeds in the primary treatment of distillery wastewater in the bioethanol productionfrom sugar beet juice. Active coagulation components were extracted from ground seeds of common bean with 0.5 mol/L NaCl. The obtained raw extract was usedas a coagulant. The coagulation efficiency was measured by jar test at different pH values of wastewater, and a decrease in organic matter content was determined. The experimentsconfirmed that natural coagulant from common bean could be successfully used for the treatment of extraction juice distillery wastewater. The highest coagulation efficiencieswere achieved at the pH 5.2 with a coagulant dose of 30 mL/L, and at the pH 8.5 with a coagulant dose of 5 mL/L, and they were 64.71% and 68.75% respectively. Theseencouraging results indicate that natural coagulant from common bean seeds is a potential alternative to conventional chemical coagulant/flocculant agents for treatment ofwastewaters.