Treatment of Sugar Factory Wastewater with Activated Carbon Produced from Plum Seed Shell

Abstract

This study demonstrates that activated carbon produced from plum seed shells is an effective adsorbent for treating highly polluted sugar factory wastewater from the Yeni area. The raw effluent was strongly acid (pH 4.5) and contained elevated TSS, TDS, COD (1280 mg/L), and BOD; pH was corrected using sodium hydroxide coagulants 2 ml/ l  prior to adsorption. The effluent of pre-treatment is absorbed by plum seed shell activated carbon AC₁, AC₂, AC₃ and AC₄ using 10 gm/l. Among them, AC₄ is the most effective and the percent removal of sugar factory wastewater parameters are turbidity (80.91%), TDS (42.86%), Colour (50%),COD (75%) and BOD (97.2%) respectively. The treated effluent met Myanmar’s National Environmental Quality Guideline (NEQG) across all measured parameters, supporting the conclusion that plum seed shell activated carbon is both effective and sustainable for sugar factory wastewater remediation. The research may contribute to civil, enviromental engineering and related domains.