10–14 Nov 2025
Office of Grants and Research
Africa/Accra timezone

Deodorizing Industrial Effluent Using a Locally Engineered Bio-based Adsorbent

12 Nov 2025, 13:30
15m
Office of Grants and Research

Office of Grants and Research

Oral Presentation Climate Resilience, Environmental Sustainability, and Food Systems

Speaker

Mr Solomon Nandomah (Department of Environmental Science, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana)

Description

Odor from untreated industrial effluent presents serious environmental and public health threats. This study investigated P-32 Powdered Activated Carbon’s (PAC) potential in deodorizing untreated effluent from Kumasi Abattoir Ghana (KAG) and comparing its cost-effectiveness to traditional dilution method through cost analysis (CA). Odor quantification was performed using sensory evaluations following APHA 2150 B standards. Batch adsorption test applied incremental doses (12.5 – 100 g/L) of P-32 PAC, with assessors rating odor intensity. Interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) assessed consistency in assessors’ rating. A mixed-effect linear model (MLM) assessed dose-response relationships, while Spearman’s (ρ) test rank test measured monotonic trends. Cubic polynomial (CPM), exponential decay (EDM), and modified EDM (mEDM), evaluated using Akaike Information Criteria (AIC) and Bayesian Information Criteria (BIC), predicted optimal dose required to achieve environmental compliance. The findings revealed a threshold odor number (TON) of 143, signaling odor-intense effluent warranting treatment. Applying incremental masses of P-32 PAC exhibited a strong monotonic decline (ρ = -0.94, p-value = 0.00) in odor intensity suggesting a dose-dependent relationship. MLM showed significant (p = 0.00) odor reduction from the baseline (10) to 1.83 at 100 g/L, an 82% reduction. ICC showed excellent reliability (ICC,1 = 91%; ICC,k = 99%). CPM exhibited predictive superiority with the lowest AIC (-9.60) and BIC (-9.01), estimating an optimal dose of 115 g/L with a narrow prediction interval (107 - 150 g/L). Beyond odor removal, the adsorbent offers co-benefits including removal of non-target contaminants, improved effluent quality and ecological safety. Economically, P-32 PAC presents the lowest annualized daily treatment cost (USD 433.28) compared to dilution (USD 60,046.46), while recovering 8.87 billion L of water annually. The study concludes that P-32 PAC, a locally engineered bio-based adsorbent, provides a replicable, low-cost and high-impact solution for odor remediation and offers meaningful contributions to environmental policy reform and protection.

Primary author

Mr Solomon Nandomah (Department of Environmental Science, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana)

Co-authors

Prof. Isaac Tetteh (Department of Environmental Science, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana) Prof. Antonia Tetteh (Department of Biochemistry & Biotechnology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology, Kumasi, Ghana) Dr Lawson Mensah (Department of Environmental Science, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana) Dr Michael Laryea (Department of Chemistry, Kwame Nkrumah Univesity of Science & Technology, Kumasi, Ghana)

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