Abstract:
Aquaculture contributes to the economy of Sri Lanka significantly. Aquaculture
industries are producing export quality products while generating employment
opportunities. Unique location of Sri Lanka and its resources supporting aquaculture
development immensely. Even though aquaculture supporting our economy through
multiple ways, the main hindrance for the development of this industry is the pollution
caused by aquaculture waste water. Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) is the amount
of oxygen required to oxidize all soluble and insoluble organic compounds present in
a volume of water. This can be used to know the pollution status of an aquaculture
system. The main objective of this study was to analyze the physical and chemical
parameters of aquaculture waste water and reduction of the Chemical Oxygen
Demand in the waste water using environment friendly biosorbents. Waste water was
collected from a hatchery and physical parameters such as the pH, total dissolved
solids, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, electrical conductivity and temperature were
analyzed. In this study three bio sorbents and their combination were used to
compare their COD removal efficiency ( T1- Musa peel powder, T2 - Oyster shell
powder, T3- Egg shell powder, T4 - 0.5g Egg shell mixed with 0.5g Musa peel powder,
T5 - 0.5g Musa peel powder mixed with 0.5g Oyster shell powder, T6 - 0.5g Oyster
shell powder mixed with 0.5g Eggshell powder). Results were analyzed using CRD
design in SAS software. It was found that COD removal efficiency of Musa peel powder
is high (92.63±0.86) and significantly different (p <0.05) from other treatments.
Therefore can utilize Musa peel powder as an effective and low cost natural
biosorbent.
