Abstract

A new composite material (MCPAM), which was prepared from magnesium chloride premixed with polyacrylamide, was applied in flocculating simulated reactive dye (Cibacron Red FN-R) wastewater. Effects of different conditions such as pH, temperature, concentration of dye and dosage of composite polymer were taken into account to investigate their effect on dye removal (%). pH 12 gave the maximum dye removal (%). Flocculation of simulated reactive dye wastewater was carried out in the range of 20 - 50oC to investigate the effect of temperature on the dye removal (%). Results showed that the dye removal (%) decreased with the increase of temperature. An interaction effect was observed between temperature and concentration of dye where the dye removal (%) decreased with the increase of dye concentration from 200 to 500 mg/L at 20oC. However, at temperature beyond 30oC, an inverse behaviour was observed. Effect of dosage on the dye removal (%) was studied with respect to concentration of dye. The dye removal (%) was found to increase to a maximum value of 99% and decrease thereafter, indicating the re-suspension of destabilized flocs into the supernatant.