Pretreatment of diosgenin wastewaters using polyferric sulfate as a main coagulant

Diosgenin is produced from Dioscrea L, mainly using D.zingiberensis as the raw material. During the process, particularly in the process of acidic hydrolysis, large quantities of high-strength wastewaters are discharged. The waste liquids are characteristic of strong acidity, usually with pH value less than 1, and high concentrations of organic matter with average CODcr （chemical organic demand） in the range of 20000-3000 mg/L. Without proper treatment, their free disposal would pose serious threat to natural ecosystem and cause considerable environmental problems. Since diosgenin wastewaters contain high load organics and acidity, appropriate pretreatment is needed before they are biologically degraded. Coagulation is a common method for eliminating colloid particles and/or high molecule organic chemicals from wastewaters. Poly-ferric sulfate is found to be most effective in removing organic matter. The objective of this study is to investigate the effectiveness and feasibility of poly-ferric sulfate to reduce CODcr and turbidity from diosgenin wastewaters. Due to its high acidic nature, the pH value of diosgenin wastewater was neutralized with Ca（OH）2 solution before being coagulated. Various factors that influence the coagulation process, such as pH value, the dosage of poly-ferric sulfate, polyelectrolyte aids and mixing conditions were examined in the experiments.

Pretreatment of diosgenin wastewaters using polyferric sulfate as a main coagulant