Indian Journal of Engineering & Materia ls Sc iences

Vol. 8. Ju ne 2001. pp. 149-152

Determination of mass transfer coefficient for the waste water from a centrifuge
rubber latex concentration unit
G MadhL!
Process Engineering Department, FACT Engineeri ng and Design Organi sation, Udyoga mandal 683 50 I, India
Receil'ed 2 May 2000; accepted 28 Febntary 200 1

During the co ncentrati on of natural rubber latex by centrifuging, con siderab le quantity of was te water is generated.
Mass transfer coeffic ient is an important parameter in th e design of a biological waste water treatment system based on
aerati on. Thi s paper deals with th e ex perimental determinati on of mass transfer coeffi cient for the was te water generated
durin g th e concentration of natu ral rub ber latex by centrifuging. The determinati on of alpha. th e ratio of mass oxygen trans-
fe r coeffi cient in waste wa ter to that in clean tap wate r under ident ical condition s is al so di scussed in the paper. The effects
of va ri ous parameters on th e alpha val ue are al so di scussed.

The supply of oxygen to an aerobic biological interfaces wi th ge nerally high degree of induced
treatm ent system has been studi ed by several turbulence and mass transfer of oxygen is governed
in ves tigators in the pastl. The type of aerating device, by the phenomenon of surface renewal.
th e system under co nsideration (whether plug flow or The total amount of oxygen transferred wi ll depend
co mpletel y mixed) , the characteri stics of the waste on the interfacial surface ex posed and on th e total
water under aeration and system co nfi guration are vo lume of liquid pumped . When the liquid strikes the
some of the facto rs which determine th e transfer of tank surface, the turb ulent mi xing an d air entrainment
oxygen. Interph ase gas transfer has been found to play result in additional oxygen transfer.
an important role in transferring th e required amount The oxygenation capacity of th e aerator under fi eld
of oxygen to th e aerobic treatment system. Al pha (ex) condi tions and standard co nditions can be correl ated
is defined as the ratio of mass oxygen transfer by th e fo llowi ng ex pressions4 .
coefficient in waste water to mass oxygen tran sfer
OC (C . - C) 1.024
coefficient in clean tap water under identical OC r = Sw ... ( I )
conditions. Alpha val ue is an important vari ab le in th e C,
evaluation of aerator performance and it should be
found out for each waste under similar set of OC = (K La ) 2°Cs V ... (2)
conditions to be encou ntered in the field 2 . where
The alpha values for sewage as well as man y OCr. OC = oxyge n transferred (oxygenation capacity)
industrial waste waters have been found out by under field and standard conditions ( I atmospheri c
previous inves ti gators' . In the present work, an press ure and 20°C) respectively, kg/h.
attempt has been made to determ ine experimentally C"", C = di ssolved oxygen saturation concentration
the alpha value for the waste water generated in for was te water and clean tap water respectively at
centrifuge rubber latex concentration units.The effect 20°C and I atmosphere, mg/L
of various parameters I ike concentration of waste C = the minimu m dissolved oxyge n concentration
water, MLSS, speed of th e aerator an d temperature on which needs to be maintained in the aeration basin ,
alpha has also been studied . mg/L
(This depends on whether nitrificati on is required or
Transfer of Oxygen not)
In surface aeration, which is commonly employed ex = ratio of Illass transfer coeffici ents
in activated sludge process , the ox ygen molecules are
(K UI) waste water
transfelTed from ai r to the liqu id interface establishing
a saturated oxygen layer at the interface. The shearing (K UI) clean tap water
act ion of th e surface aeration impeller creates new V = vo lume of aeration basin, L
 150 INDIAN J. ENG. MATER. SCI., JUNE 2001

T = temperature, °C
(KLa ) 20 = overall mass transfer coefficient at 20°C, h- I
As alpha value is the ratio of overall mass transfer 201"'11"'1 orA MS ROD
coefficient in waste water to that in tap water, the
objective reduces to the determination of mass
transfer coefficients in tap water as well as waste
water under identical conditions 5 .

Experimental Procedure
The composite waste water samples used for the 31"'11"'1 THICK MS PLATE
study were collected from a natural rubber latex
concentration unit situated in Central Kerala of South
India. The sources of effluents are washings from
drums, bowls and tanks of the centrifuging machine
and the serum from the skim latex coagulation section
where the latex content is separated out using
sulphuric acid. The characteristic of the waste water
samples were determined by standard methods 6 .
The experimental set-up used in this study
consisted of a plexi glass aeration tank measuring
/
0.70 m x 0.70 m and 1 m depth. In order to fill the
tank with waste water and to facilitate its removal,
inlet and outlet connections were provided. The waste
water level in the tank was maintained constant at 0.8
o
m throughout the study. A plate type surface aerator
(0.l5 m diameter) as shown in Fig. 1 was fixed at the
centre of the aeration basin. The surface aerator was
fabricated by welding two blades to a plate of 0.15 m
1501"'11"'1
diameter and 3 mm thickness. The size of the blade
was 20 mm x 20 mm. A mild steel rod, 0.4 m long Fig. 1 - Surface aerator details
and 20 mm diameter was fixed vertically at the centre
stopped when the 0.0 level was observed to be more
of the plate to act as the shaft. The aerator was rotated
than 90 per cent of saturation value. The water
at a maximum speed of 1425 rpm with the help of a
temperature was noted after stopping the aerator.
0.746 kW motor. The submergepce of aerator was
The above procedure was repeated for the latex
maintained at 0.15 m below the liquid surface during
concentration waste water. Experiments were also
the study .
conducted at various temperatures. In order to avoid
To estimate the oxygen transfer coefficient, the
heating or cooling of water / waste water, the
non-steady state aeration procedure was adopted. The
experimental runs were conducted at different periods
aeration basin was first filled with clean tap water up
of the year when the temperature of water was
to the desired level and the water temperature was
different. The experimental runs were also conducted
noted. The dissolved oxygen content of the water was
at different speeds of the surface aerator . .
measured by Winkler's modified method 6 . The
BOD, COD and sludge solid concentration were
dissolved oxygen content of tap water in the aeration
measured before and after aeration using standard
basin was then removed by adding 10 mg/L sodium
methods 6 .
sulphite and 1 mg/L cobalt chloride catalyst per mg/L
of dissolved oxygen. After devoiding water Determination of DO saturation
completely of dissolved oxygen, the surface aerator The saturation concentration of dissolved oxygen
unit was started. Samples of water were collected corresponding to a specific temperature was obtained
from the aeration basin at regular intervals and the from standard tables? The saturation dissolved
dissolved oxygen content of the samples were oxygen values above 30°C was obtained using the
determined by Winkler's method. The aerator was Eq. (3) given below 8 .
 MADHU : DETERMINATION OF MASS TRANSFER COEFFICIENT FOR WASTE WATER 151

Cs = 14.652 - 4 .1022 x 10- 1 (T) + 7.991 X 10-3 (n 2 -
7.7774 x 10-3 (T) -3
Determination of alpha
The general equation of oxygen transfer in aqueous
media is
dc
- = KLa(C,- C)
dt
where dc / dt = rate of change of dissolved oxygen
co ncentration with time
Cs = saturation concentration of oxygen
C =dissolved oxygen concentration at any time t.
On integration , Eq . (3) gives
log (C, - C) = K La t + constant.
Plotting log (C, - C) against time will yield a straight
line, the slope of which gives the value of KLa.
The value of alpha is obtained by dividing K La for
waste water by that for clean tap water.
Effect of aerator speed on alpha value
. . . (3) Fig. 3 shows alpha values plotted against various
rotational speeds of the surface aerator. It is observed
that alpha value increases with speed. Ini'tially the rate
of increase in alpha value is high which becomes
moderate subsequently. This phenomenon should be
due to the increased oxygen transfer resulting from
... (4) liquid spray and turbulence and entrainment caused
by the rotation of the surface aerator. As oxygen
concentration in the waste water approaches the
saturation value, the value of alpha comes down. This
observation is in line with the conclusions made by
Downing9 and Kaul et aF .
Effect of BOD 011 alpha value
In Fig. 4, alpha values are plotted against BOD
concentration of centrifuge latex concentration waste
water. Alpha value is found to decrease linearly with
the BOD concentration of waste water. This can be
explained by the fact that the more the BOD
concentration of the waste water, the more will be th e
quantity of oxygen utilised for aerobic degradation of

Results and Discussion

Characteristics of the waste water samples 0.6 Kt..for l:lJl " ·iltu - O.lH2 1.I:., y · '

The characteristics of the waste water samples are I..: L• rorw u tewSlt ,·- O,OI625dll)' · '

given in Table 1. The pH values of the waste water 0.6

samples used for the study were in the range of __ T3pwa ter
0.4
3.5 - 4.2 indicating the acidic nature of the waste -tt- Le lelt waste wa ter

water from a latex centrifuging unit. The COD and

0.2
BOD values of the waste samples show that they are
highly organic in nature.
10 20 30 40 50 70
Estimation of alpha value
·0.2 ·' - - - -- - - - - - - - - -- ----'
A plot of log (Cs - C) versus time for tap water as Tlme, mlnU1el

well as latex concentration waste water samples are

shown in Fig. 2. The slope of the line gives the value Fig. 2 - Plot of log(Cs-C) versus time
of KLa . From the KLa values, the value of a was found o.g

out. The value of a obtained for latex concentration

~
0.8
waste water is in the range of O. 74 - 0.78.
0.7
Table I - Characteristics of the effluent samples
.,
0 .6

Parameter Sample~ I Sample-2 Sample-3 Sample-4

pH 3.5 4.0 3.8 4.2

~
j
. 0. 5

0.4

Turbidity, NTU 1200 850 2200 2000 '"

COD. mg/L 9500 8500 8000 10400
0.3
I =::::::: I
1 - - IIO(l!oeO(l_

0.2 : - IOOU>lXlO _
BOD. mg/L 5700 5500 5000 6100
0.1
Total solids, mg/L 15420 10700 12200 11100
Dissolved solids, 11100 10200 9100 9200
1200 1300 1425 1600
mg/L Speed of rotation, rpm
Suspended solids, 4320 6500 3100 1900
mg/L Fig. 3 - Effect of aerator speed on alpha
152 INDIAN J. ENG. MATER. SCI., JUNE 2001

0.9 0.9 ~--------------------,

0 .8 0.8

0.7 0.7

0.6 0.6

0.5 __ 800 6100 rng~

0.5 ___ 000 $700 mW'l
I--Temp : 31C, 1425 rpm )
......... SO05500mWl
0 .4
OA -:r~~MlOOIT'~

0.3
0.3

0.2
0.2

0 .1
0.1

10 15 20 25 30 35
5000 5500 5700 8100 Temperature, Dcg C
BOO mgn
Fig. 6 - Effect of temperatu re on alph a
Fig. 4 - Effect of BOD on alpha

... (5)
os

0.8
As the temperature characteristic u is the same for
latex concentration waste water and tap water, it is
0.7
quite reasonable that the alpha value does not vary
0.6
-+-8005500 mgll, 1425 rpm. 31 C
with increase or decrease in temperature.
0.'

0 ..
Conclusion
The present study reveals that the alpha value for
0.3
the waste water from a centrifuge latex concentration
0.'
unit is in the range of 0.74 - 0.78 for an average BOD
0.1 concentration of 5500 mg/L. The study leads to the
conclusion that alpha value increases with increase in
1000 2000 3000 '000 '000 speed of rotation of the surface aerator. Moreover, the
M\..SS, mgll

Fig. 5 - Effect of MLSS on alpha

organic matter. This will result in decline of KLa and
hence alpha value.
Effect of MLSS on alpha value
A plot of alpha versus Mixed Liquor Suspended
Solids (MLSS) concentration in the aeration basin is
given in Fig. 5. It seems that value of alpha decreases
with sludge solids concentration. This should be due
to the fact that sludge solids act as a physical barrier
for oxygen transfer and thereby decreasing KLa and
hence alpha 2 .
Effect of temperature on alpha value
Fig. 6 shows a plot of alpha versus temperature. It
is observed that alpha does not change with variation
in temperature.
The effect of temperature on oxygen transfer is
usually described in terms of temperature
characteristic u as shown in the Eq. (5) given below.
alpha value of latex concentration waste water is
found to decrease with increase in BOD concentration
of waste water and sludge solids concentration. The
alpha value does not vary with changes 111
temperature.
References
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88
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