The application of surface engineered silica for the treatment of sugar containing wastewater

The removal of sucrose and fructose from water at various high concentrations by surface engineered silica (SES) was studied using dissolved sugar in pure water. The results indicate that sugar at concentrations of up to 800 g/L can be removed by SES at a relatively high dose of 250 to 300 g/L. Based on these results, process water from a soft drink filling station which was contaminated by sugar, flavour components, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria and Candida pelliculosa yeast were treated to study the performance of SES using actual process water samples by analysing turbidity, biological oxygen demand (BOD), UV absorption, and various other standard parameters, and microbial tests. The study shows that at a dose of 100 g/L of SES bacterial contamination as well as turbidity, BOD and UV absorption can be significantly reduced. However, the study found the yeast species Candida pelliculosa could not be removed from the water samples.