RESUMO
The abundance of pineapple waste generated in Malaysia has becomes a serious issue as it puts our environment in grave danger. The presence of chlorophyll in pineapple waste has attracted many researchers to produce a natural dye from chlorophyll as a sensitizer for solar cells. Natural dyes can be considered a promising substitute for synthetic dyes as they are more environmentally friendly and cost less when compared to the synthetic dyes that are currently available on the market. This research aims to optimize the conditions of chlorophyll extraction from pineapple leaves using a mechanical extraction method. A response surface methodology was used to design an experimental design table using a central composite design based on two significant factors. The extraction cycle and the storage time varied between 1 and 5 cycles and 7 and 9 h, respectively, were studied. From the study, the maximum concentration of total chlorophyll (TC) was 693.292 mg/L. The optimum conditions for extraction cycle and storage time were at 3 cycles and 8 h, respectively. Among those two factors, it has been discovered that the storage time has a smaller p-value (p = 0.1106) than the extraction cycle, indicating that this factor was the critical factor affecting the TC concentration. The value of R2 for the analysis was 0.8673, making the analysis a well-fitted model. Thus, it has been established that the models are suitable for optimizing the extraction conditions in order to maximize the concentration of TC using the mechanical method.
RESUMO
The goal of this study is to optimize the condition of the pollutant removal process by using acclimatized mixed culture (AMC) in the treatment of contaminated waste from the hatchery industry. The removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD), nitrate-N, and total phosphorus was optimized using a central composite design and the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) with two parameters: AMC content and retention time (days). Each factor had a range value of 15%-35% AMC content and a retention time of 3-5 days, with COD, nitrate-N, and total phosphorus removal as responses. Prior to experimentation, the synthetic wastewater was prepared, and the mixed cultures were acclimatized. In 13 runs, the experiment was carried out in accordance with the setup created by the Design-Expert software. The sample was tested for COD, nitrate-N, and total phosphorus using a Hach spectrophotometer. The findings show a strong relationship between predicted and experimental COD, nitrate-N, and total phosphorus removal values. At optimum conditions of 29% AMC content and 4 days of retention time, removal of COD, nitrate-N, and total phosphorus was observed to be 28%, 80% and 36%, respectively. The discovery also revealed that maximum values of removal of 62% COD, 94% nitrate-N, and 46% total phosphorus could be obtained under various optimum conditions. The study shows that, the acclimatized mixed culture (AMC) can be used as a potential biological wastewater treatment as well as a natural removal of COD, nitrate-N, and total phosphorus.
