Application of Chitosan from Corbula Faba Hinds shells as a Bio-Coagulant for River Water Treatment

Abstract

Corbula faba Hinds or white mussel is one of the marine organisms easily found around Sidoarjo, East Java, Indonesia. The main component of its shell is chitin that can be derivate to chitosan. Chitosan is widely used especially in the water treatment process as a coagulant due to its biocompatibility and biodegradability. In this study, chitosan produced from white mussel shells was used as a coagulant for treated Surabaya River water. The initial value of TSS in the sample water was 373.0 mg/L whereas TDS was 59.5 mg/L. The rapid mixing condition, such as speed and time, influenced the result of solids removal. Higher speed and longer time mixing would give better performance of flocs formation, but the flocks would be unstable after reach some points of conditions. The optimum mixing condition was obtained when using140 rpm on speed for 4 minutes with TSS removal up to 94.96% and TDS removal up to 23.32%.