ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Performance of Chemical-Based vs Bio-Based
Coagulants in Treating Aquaculture Wastewater
and Cost-benefit Analysis
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1
Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment,
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
2
Study Program of Environmental Engineering, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Technology,
Universitas Airlangga, Kampus C UNAIR, Jalan Mulyorejo, Surabaya, 60115, Indonesia
3
Research Centre for Sustainable Process Technology (CESPRO), Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment,
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
Submission date: 2022-10-21
Final revision date: 2022-11-01
Acceptance date: 2022-11-09
Online publication date: 2022-12-23
Publication date: 2023-02-23
Corresponding author
Muhammad Fauzul Imron
Study Program of Environmental Engineering, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universitas Airlangga, Kampus C UNAIR, Jalan Mulyorejo, Surabaya 60115, Indonesia
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2023;32(2):1177-1187
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ABSTRACT
Aquaculture sector plays important role for the economic development in Malaysia, but
environmental concerns are arising due to the pollution caused by the discharge of untreated
wastewater. Coagulation-flocculation-sedimentation is currently the best practice of aquaculture
wastewater treatment. This research aims to compare the performance of chemical-based (alum) and
bio-based (neem leaves) coagulants in treating aquaculture effluent while also studying the economic
feasibility. Alum showed higher removal efficiencies of total suspended solid (99.7%), turbidity (98.8%),
and color (97.3%), while neem coagulant showed a lower dosage needed to achieve the optimum
performance. The total cost included capital and operational costs, while total benefit included
the potential of water reuse and reclaimed valuable products from sludge. The net profit reveals
negative values for both scenarios, while cost-benefit ratio showed 0 and 0.06 values for alum and
neem coagulants, respectively. These values indicated that both scenarios are not feasible to gain
economical profit, while the utilization of neem coagulant present benefit for water reuse and sludge
utilization. A deeper analysis using Social Return on Investment (SROI) method is suggested to include
the non-traditional calculation in cost-benefit analysis such as social and environmental values
of the scenarios.