Browsing by Author "Siriwardana, S.M.K.S."

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    Turbidity Removal of Waste Water Using Bio Materials
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2013) Siriwardana, S.M.K.S.
    Existing technologies for turbidity removal from waters and wastewaters are often ineffective, expensive and unavailable in developing countries. The necessity to investigate an inexpensive and effective alternative for turbidity removal from waters becomes inevitable. Adsorption is an emerging field in this regard and has great potentials for application in developing economies. It involves the use of living or non-living biological materials for pollutants' removal from aqueous solutions and industrial effluents. This research therefore focuses on developments in the use of bio materials for the removal of turbidity of waters and wastewaters. The plant materials such as seeds of Moringa oleifera, seed coat of Elettaria cardamomum, seeds of Strychnos potatorum, flower of Osbeckia aspera and fruit of Phyllanthus emblica were washed and dried separately. Crushed plant materials were separated by using sieve shaker into series of different mesh sizes and loaded into the glass column. Synthetically prepared turbid water sample was passed through the glass column and turbidity removal capacities of the plant materials were checked. Seeds of Moringa oleifera, seed coat of Elettaria cardamomum, seeds of Strychnos potatorum were effectively reduced the turbidity and the most effective mesh size was 0.6 mm mesh size. All the materials effectively worked under the 0.6 mm mesh size.
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    Waste Water Treatment using Bio Materials
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2013) Siriwardana, S.M.K.S.; Udagedara, D.T.
    Inadequate water services together with poor sanitation are among the most serious challenges faced by the developing countries. There are potential health effects caused by high Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) content in drinking water. The hard water will taste bitter, salty, or metallic and may have unpleasant odor. High TDS water is less thirst quenching. High TDS interferes with the taste of foods and beverages, and makes them less desirable to consume. Some of the individual mineral salts such as Nitrates, Sodium, Sulfates, Barium, Cadmium, Copper, and Fluoride that make up TDS pose in the joints, hardening of the arteries, kidney stones, gall stones and blockages of arteries, microscopic capillaries and other passages in which liquids flow through the entire body. Therefore this research aims at examining the capacity of bio materials on removing TDS in water.Bio materials can be used for the purpose of removing turbidity from drinking water as an adsorption agent. Selected bio material should have comparatively less time for purification, the wide distribution and availability to find materials as adsorption materials. Methodology According to the Sri Lankan environmental conditions following bio materials can easily be applied for turbidity removal. Moringa oleifera, Elettaria cardamomum, Osbeckia aspera, Phyllanthus emblica, Strychnos potatorum (Bina, et al, 2009; Vikashni et al, 2012).Collected plant materials were separately washed and dried in direct sunlight making them easy to crush into small pieces. Crushed plant materials were separated by using sieve shaker into series of different mesh sizes. Water with high TDS was prepared with kaolinite as a controller. The plant parts were washed, dried, crushed and separated into three grain sizes which could be loaded into separate glass column. Column has a capacity of 100mL and air dried before use. The 5 separate glass columns were packed with crushed plant parts separately. Prepared water was allowed to pass slowly through the columns at a rate of 10mL/min. The TDS of the eluted water sample was measured using TDS meter.