Proceedings of the 19th IAHR-APD Congress 2014, Hanoi, Vietnam

ISBN 978604821338-1

POSSIBILITY OF RE-USING OYSTER SHELLS IN ACIDIC WASTEWATER TREATMENT

DUNG. TRAN MINH(1), NHAN. PHAM THI THANH(2), QUANG. HOANG HA(3)& HUYEN. PHAM THANH(4)
(1)Water Resources University, Hanoi, Vietnam, email: dungtm@wru.vn
(2) Water Resources University, Hanoi, Vietnam, email: nhanptt07@wru.vn
(3) Water Resources University, Hanoi, Vietnam, email: quanghh07@wru.vn
(4) Water Resources University, Hanoi, Vietnam, email:huyenpt07@wru.vn

ABSTRACT
With CaCO3 component made up to 95% (Davis T.A et al., 2000), oyster shells are similar in composition with limestone.
The objective of this research is to present the capability of oyster shells in treating acidic wastewater from Thanh Thuy
metal craft village. Based on jar test experiments to find the optimum conditions for the process including: dimension of
shells, calcination time, calcination temperature, volume of shells and exposure time. The experimental results were
demonstrated that: shells sized from 2 to 5 centimeters; calcinated in 6000C in 1 hour, brought up better efficiency to acidic
wastewater treatment. According to above conditions, researcher found the optimum shells volume, exposure time to
check the correctness of the experiments about increasing pH and reducing color, iron in wastewater. Oyster shells have
implications in environmental protection, treatment cost saving and contributing the diversity of natural resources.

Keywords:Oyster shells; pH; CaCO3; neutralizing.

1. INTRODUCTION emissions of SO2, NOx came from someindustries (Jung et

Vietnam accompanied with many marine advantages
including a coastline of over 3260 km. Besides that, there
are many lagoons which are suitable for aquaculture
industry. The climate and terrain are also favorable for its
development. These advantages are appropriate for
aquaculture industry in general and bivalve mollusks in
particular. According to Vietnam association of seafood
exporters and producers, aquaculture production statistic
of 2 pieces - mollusks in 2012 reached 26240 tons/year (an
increase of 1.22 times in comparison with 2009). Amongst
that, in 2012 oyster production tends to increase to 7347
tons/year (Vietnam association of seafood exporters and
producers). However, this also lead to an increase in the
amount of waste oyster shells which were discarded into
the environment from industrial processing, bars,
restaurants.... In regard to a research of Marine Research
Institution: "For each ton of oyster meat production, there
are 8 tons of shells are disposed, the volume of discarded
shells in 2012 was 6531 tons/year (Research institute for
Marine fisheries). This waste which discarded into the
environment caused unpleasant smell due to the disposal
of oyster meat leftover parts. The process of decomposing
oyster flesh created different types of gas including:
Amine, NH3, H2S which caused severe impact to
environment and human health.
In order to remedy this situation, many Korean
researchers used oyster shells as a sort of building
material (Yoon et al., 2003; Kristy Noel Kelley., 2009)
experimental results demonstrate that the oyster shells are
effective and can be a replacement of sand for reducing
the intensity compression. For environmental remediation
purpose, oyster shells are effective in controlling
eutrophication (Kwon et al., 2004; Park et al., 2008). In
2012, South Korea conducted several projects which
concerned with the accessibility of oyster shells to handle
al., 2012). In Vietnam, a study by Bui Truong Tho: "Use of
agricultural waste, wastewater treatment aquatic
activities" (Tho, Bui Truong), which use shredded coconut
combine clam shells, oyster shells in domestic wastewater
treatment by reducing the contaminants through the
filtering process has showed satisfactory results.
The objective of this research was to examine the usable
ability CaCO3 component in oyster shells for wastewater
treatment in metal ware craft villages. Specifically, the
paper clarifies the ability of oyster shells in changing the
pH value of acidic wastewater treatment through jar test
experiments and to find out the optimum conditions for
the process. Based on that, it was essential to determine
the relationship between pH values and color, iron content
processing capabilities of the effluent from metal ware
craft village Thanh Thuy - Thanh Oai - Ha Noi.
2. RESEARCH METHOD
Oyster shells on one hand are considered as left-over from
the fishery industry; however, with CaCO3 component
made up to 95%, oyster shellsare able to be recycled as a
source of water treatment process in metal ware craft
village.
In regards to the findings from some previous science
researches on characteristics and natures of oyster shells, it
was indicated that waste oyster shells are similar in
composition with limestone (Jung et al., 2005):

1
 % Vv is always fixed, Vr is directly proportional to V
60 Furthermore, calcining kiln which was used in the
SiO2
subsequent experiments was not the spinning type, so it
40 Al2O3 was critical to use larger shells size for calcinating. If the
Fe2O3 shells sizes weresmall, the material would fill all voids,
20 then they would be separated from the heat which could
CaO make the calcining-shells well done or rare.
0 MgO
In the other hand, from 1 unit volume of bulk density, the
Waste oyster Ignition Loss dimension of oyster shells is inversely proportional to the
shells Jungsun
limestone interface and material weight. The interface between solid
and liquid counts base on one unit of weight, often noted
by m2/g, and it affect to the reaction
Figure 1: Composition of waste oyster shells and Jungsun
timing(http://www.richardanderson.me.uk/keystage4/
limestone
GCSEChemistry/images/largeparticles.gif).
In the scope of this report, the research object was to use
oyster shells as instrument in treating acidic waste water.
The water treating experiment was conducted by using
neutralize method with oyster shells. The preliminary
treatment process for oyster shells in order were: wash,
dry, heat. Samples from the process were gathered and
distinguished by lattice screen, which divided into three
types based on size: (type 1: from 1-2 cm, noted as L1; type
2: from 2-5 cm, noted as L2; type 3: original size (>5 cm),
noted as L3). Afterwards,oyster shells were calcinated in
kiln, then allocated in dry-cabinet and cooling to reach
room temperature. Figure 2: Dimensions affect to the interface

Based on the method of neutralizing, acidic waste water

had to be neutralized in order to bring pH to about 6.5 to
8.5, before discharging into receiving resources or
technology used for further processing. Wastewater
neutralization could be achieved in which acidic water
was purified by using materials which were capable of
neutralization.
The contents of this report demonstrate the ability of
oyster shells to increase pH in wastewater treatment for
metal ware craft villages. Through Jartest experiments, the
optimum results for the following conditions were
established: size shells, burning time, burning
temperature, shells volume, exposure time to improve
processing efficiency.
Temperature and timing of calcination process
After choosing the size, it was essential to treat the shells
by heat to form the activation properties of oyster shells.
The changes of temperature and calcination timing were
important, which determined the raising of pH index by
using oyster shells.
The calcination process was conducted as:
CaCO3 CaO + CO2
The calcination process is endothermic reaction with main
component is CaCO3. The activation energy for this
reaction is calculated by the following equation, (Jung et
al., 2012):

3. EXPERIMENT RESULTS CaCO3(s) CaO + CO2 (1)

= (1 ) (2)
Dimension of shells

The dimension of oyster shells is highly correlated to the = ( ) (3)
ability of increasing pH. From 3 grain sizes collected after
( )
= (1 ) (4)
screening (L1, L2, L3), it is essential to choose the optimum
type for using oyster shells in treating wastewater as Where: x = mass of waste oyster shells and limestone,
saving the energy cost for calcining process.
k = reaction rate,
The grain size is correlated to the void ratio. Void ratio
X = conversion,
from the material is directly proportional to capability of
diffusing oxygen into water which contributes the n = reaction order,
treatment process. Void ratio (%): the void volume
contained in one unit volume of material. If Vr is A = pre-exponential factor,
considered as void volume and Vv is considered as Ea = activation energy,
materials volume then:
R = gas constant,
V
v r (Lu, Phung Van., 2008) T = absolute temperature.
Vv The higher the temperature, the greater amount of heat
Where: Vr = Vv V collected, and the amount of CaO, CO2 had increased.
While CO2 had been escaping, the material became light
V: the materials volume in state of totally solid (liter) and forming voids. The voids contributed to increasing
the interface area between CaO and wastewater, thereby

2
the neutralizing reaction carried out acidic waste sources. appropriate to choose the timing as 1h for energy cost
However, if the calcination temperature was too high, saving.
shells would crack, then the small pieceswould easily
sediment.
The capability of increasing pH by the sample in different pH
points calcination temperature, with calcination time 1h 8
and 1.5h was shown in figure 3; 4. 7
6
pH 5
1h
4
8 3 1,5h
7 T=300 C 2
6 1
T=450 C
5 0 minutes
4 T=600 C 10 20 30 40 50 60
3
T=750 C
2 Figure 5: pH values at 6000C calcination temperature in 1 hour
1 T=850 C and 1.5 hours timing.
0 Application for finding the optimum volume in
10 20 30 40 50 60
minutes
wastewater treatment at Thanh Thuy craft village
Wastewater samples were taken from 4 villages: Rua Ha,
Figure 3: pH values at different temperatures with 1 hour Gia Vinh, Rua Thuong, Tu Am. The analysis in
calcination characteristics of samples was shown in the following
table:
pH
Table 1: Analysis of wastewater input parameters
8
7 T=300 C
Vietnam
6
T=450 C Standards
5
Parameters Unit M1 M2 M3 M4 (40:2011
4 T=600 C
(column
3
T=750 C B)
2
1 T=850 C
0 Temperature
10 20 30 40 50 60
minutes 0C 28 27 26 26 400C
(0C)

Figure 4: pH values at different temperatures with 1.5 hours

pH 2,10 2,09 2,15 2,05 5,5 9
calcination

Based on the testing experiment, the aptitude of refreshing

Color Pt-
acidic wastewater of oyster shells increased along with 682 894 778 822 150
increase in calcination temperature and timing. This result Co
was apposite with the concept which cited above.
Specifically, pH in both figure were directly proportional Iron mg/l 580,46 670,12 594,89 621,25 5
to the heat while calcination. However, when reached to
the definite temperature (from 6000C), pH value in
wastewater was stable, only slightly increased. For 750 0C
and 8500C, pH reached its highest value. However, the With the input parameters above, if wastewater from craft
change in pH value was only 8% while compared to villages was directly discharge to the environment, it
6000C, the change was very significant - 30%. would lead to heavy pollution. This is due to the fact that
Furthermore, the stability of shells shape was very low all the above parameters were excess the allowed
when temperature reached 7500C and 8500C, it had many standards for environment-discharging wastewater. Thus,
disruption lines, and created many small pieces which in order to vindicate the effectiveness of oyster shells, it
were difficult to collect. On the other hand, the shells was essential to find the optimal volume of shells as well
shape was relatively stable at 3000C, 4500C, however, the as the optimal exposure time based on changes in pH.
pH value was very small in changes. The above
weaknesses were solved at temperature of 600 0C, with the Optimal volume of shells
ability to increase pH value to 6.25 in 1 hour (pH equals Within the same volume of wastewater, the greater the
6.75 in 1.5 hours) and limited the lime sediment. In amount of shells, the faster the reaction takes place.
conclusion, it was optimal to choose the calcination However, it is not ideal if using too many oyster shells.
temperature of 6000C. This would lead to the waste of resources and increase the
For 6000C, the ability to increasing pH value in 1.5 hours cost of operation. The optimal results of oyster shells
(pH equals 6.75) was not different comparing to amount for 1 liter of village's wastewater are shown in
calcinating in 1 hour (pH equals 6.25). Thus, it was Figure 6.

3
 pH
7 performance had just slightly improved (from 66% to
6 6.07
5 5.8 6.05
4.92
4 4.21
3
2 Assessing the effects of iron treating
1
0
125 250 500 750 1000
Figure 6: pH values for 125, 250, 500, 750, 1000 grams
With input pH value equals 2, pH value changed after
exposure to increasing amounts of oyster shells from 125g-
500g. At 125g, pH after about 60 minutes exposure time
reaches 4.21; while at 500g, pH value reached 5.80; the
difference between two values was 1.59. Meanwhile, with
the same period of exposure time the volume which had
the highest pH value reached was 1000g. However, the
difference in pH value at the shells weight value of 500g,
750g, and 1000g were relatively small. In particular, the
pH value at 750g oyster shells was larger than 0.25
compare to pH value at 500g, also similar to the difference
of only 0.02 with 750g and 1000g. The difference between
the two intervals of pH value above was 12.5 times, which
suggested that an increase in the shells volume of 250g
would not lead to the same efficiency. Therefore, it was
critical to say that the optimal parameter of usable shells
volume for 1 liter of wastewater was 750g.
Exposure time
The testing result showed that pH value tended to rise
along with the rise in exposure duration.
C
Vtb mol / ls (Khuong, Nguyen., 2002)
t ChayapatTabtong, SinsuphaJuiJuijermin 2009; Md.
Where:
Vtb: the average speed (mol/ls)
C C1 C2
: concentration variability (mol/l)
C1: initial concentration (mol/l)
C2: equilibrium concentration (mol/l)
t : time (s)
The equation above showed that exposure time related to
velocity and variety of concentrations.
Figure 7: Performance of increasing pH in periods of time
In the period from 10 to 30 minutes early, the performance
of pH growth had increased exceedingly (from 60% to
66%). After that, in the period from 30 to 60 minutes, this
67%). The last period (from 60 to 70 minutes) had
observed that the pH growth performance increased
inconsiderably. Therefore, it was specifically to say that
pH the optimal exposure duration was 60 minutes.
From the optimal conditions of material: Shells size was
grams from 2 to 5 centimeters,calcination temperature equals
6000C, calcination timing was 1 hour, exposure time was
60 minutes and the input parameter:
+ pH = 2
+ Color: 786 Pt Co
+ Iron content: 597,54mg/l
Researcher use 3000g of the material to treat 4000
milliliters acidic wastewater.
As waste water was taken from the metal ware craft
village, the iron value in the samples accounted was high
component account for a large amount. The iron ions had
existed as Fe2+, therefore the color of wastewater was
green. But according to the experiment, color of
wastewater samples was turned into yellow, which could
respond by the change of iron ion into Fe3+. The reaction
took place according to the formula:
4Fe2++ O2 + 2H2O + 4Ca(OH)2 4Fe(OH)3 + 4Ca2+
The iron ion Fe3+ easily settled to the bottom, and the
samples turned to yellow. But the reaction above had
conditions to completely happen, one of those was pH.
The reaction was bidirectional, while pH value was high,
that formula above would happen more easily.
Furthermore, in regards to researches by
AtiqurRahmanetal.in 2008; Woo-SeokShin, KuKang,
Young-KeeKimin 2014,
oystershellshadaptitudeforironionabsorption.
Iron ion absorption capacity of oyster shells was
determined by the formula:
V .(Ci Ce )
Qe .103 , mg / g (Davis T.A., 2000)
m
Where:
V: volume of solution (l)
Ci: initial concentration (mg/l)
Ce: equilibrium concentration (mg/l)
m : amount of adsorbent (g)
According to the theories above, the experiment had
shown the capability of oyster shells in treating iron
through figure 8 and 9:
4
 pH Ci Ce (Park, Polprasert., 2008)
RE .100%
Ci
7
6 Where:
5 Initial pH values Ci: initial concentration, mg/l
4
Ce: equilibrium concentration, mg/l
3 pH values after
2 exposure
4. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
1
0 Conclusion
minutes
5 15 30 60 The study aimed to provide the optimum conditions in
order to raise the pH value of acidic wastewater from craft
Figure 8: pH values through exposure periods villages. These conditions including: metal temperature,
calcination time, the dimensions of the shells, the volume
600 70 % and duration of exposure. Based on that, we evaluated the
ability to handle the iron content, the true color in
60
500 wastewater samples by using oyster shells. In general, the
50
research group came up with several conclusions:
400
+ Shells size from 2 - 5 cm was optimal for scalability of
iron content (mg/l)

40
pH.
300
30 iron content + 6000C calcination temperature in 1 hour was the
200 optimum time to keep the oyster shells shape during
20
process.
100 10 processor
+ Optimal exposure time (processing time) was 60
performance
minutes.
0 0
5 15 30 60 minutes Research showed that oyster shells were usable in
wastewater treatment in craft villages. The activation of
oyster shells after firing sewage treatment is a new
Figure 9: Iron contents and performances method in recycling solid waste, creating beneficial
products for production, lessens environmental problems
According to these charts, while pH value reached to 5.05,
caused by aquaculture along with cost savings and avoids
iron treating performance was just 10%, comparing to 60%
environmental impacts during extraction of natural
while pH value reached to 6.09. This experiment indicated
resources such as limestone.
the relative between pH and iron content, moreover,
including oxygen diffusion into water and the exposure Recommendations
time.
Due to limited testing and laboratory conditions,
Assessing the effects of color treating assessing the ability to handle pH and color, metallic iron
content of oyster shells as well as the factors affecting
Due to the color variation during the experiment, the color
treatment efficiency are not in the scope of this paper .
values were measured after 60 minutes exposure time.
The experiment was carried out after filtering. The result Areas of this study and applications of oyster shells in
was shown in figure 10. wastewater treatment were a new field in Vietnam. To be
able to deploy the applicable results in real environment,
further researches are required, as well as researches must
%
be conducted in a larger scale. The researchers should
600 70 further issues: the institution, policy, technology, human
resources, finance and public awareness for recycling
500 60
oyster shells can be used more commonly to save natural
50 resources which are increasingly depleted.
400
40 During the study, analyzing the parameters had shown
Color

300 Color
the property affecting the processor efficiency is porosity
30
materials. However, due to the lack of time, it was
200 unavailable to introduce the concept of a new group,
20
Processor
formula. Hopefully in the future if all conditions are met,
100 10 performan
ce color the project can be expanding to focus more with optimum
0 0 temperature for broken oyster shells and chemical
5 15 30 60 minutes adsorption as well as research by surface adsorption
handling of hazardous materials for reuses cost savings
Figure 10: Color values and performances in removal color and effective treatment of CO2 released from the kiln.

At 60 minutes exposure time, the performance reached

to over 60%, which was the peak of the line. The
REFERENCES
performance was calculated by the formula:

5
http://www.richardanderson.me.uk/keystage4/GCSECh
emistry/images/largeparticles.gif.
Abdus Samad., Md. Atiqur Rahman., Mohammad Arifur
Rahman and Abdul M. S. Alam (2008). Removal of
Arsenic with Oyster Shells: Experimental Measurements.
69 77.
Chayapat Tabtong., Sinsupha JuiJuijerm., (2009).
Adsorption of lead ions from synthetic wastewater using
oyster shells. 45- 53.
Creach. Paul V., (1957). Variations physiologiques du
phosphore total de la coquille de Gryphaea angulata Lmk.
Revue des Travaux de IInstitut des Peches Maritimes,
tome 21, fascicule 3, pp.415-430.
Davis T.A., Volesky B., Vieira R.H.S.F (2000). Sargassum
seaweed as biosorbent for heavy metals. Water Research.
34: 4270-4278.
Jung, J-H. et al. (2005).Reactivity of Bio-sorbent Prepared by
Waste Shells of Shellfish in Acid Gas Cleaning Reaction. Research institute for Marine fisheries.
The Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering, 22(4), Tho. Bui Truong.,Use of agricultural waste, wastewater
566-568. treatment aquatic activities. College of the Environment
Jung. Jong-Hyeon., Lee. Jae-Jeong., Lee. Gang-Woo., Yoo. and Natural Resources, Can Tho university.
Kyung-Seun., Shon. Byung-Hyun (2012). Reuse of Waste Vietnam association of seafood exporters and producers.
Shells as a SO2/NOx Removal Sorbent. Vinogradov. E.R., (1937). The elementary chemical
Kristy Noel Kelley (2009). Use of recycled oyster shells as composition of marine organisms. Composition of shells
aggregate for pervious concrete. of Lamellibranchiata. Translation in Memoirs, Sears
Kwon. H-B et al., (2004). Recycling waste oyster shells for Foundation for Marine Research, pp.303-309.
eutrophication control. Resources conservation and Woo-Seok Shin., Ku Kang., Young-Kee Kim., (2014).
Recycling, 41, 75-82. Adsorption Characteristics of Multi-Metal Ions by Red
Khuong. Nguyen.,General Chemistry.,Industrial University Mud, Zeolite, Limestone, and Oyster Shells.
of Ho Chi Minh City.2010 Yoon. Gil-Lim., Kim. Byung-Tak., Kim. Baeck-Oon., Han.
Lu.Phung Van., (2008). Building material, The Educational Sang-Hun., (2003). Chemicalmechanical characteristics of
Publisher, 1999. crushed oyster-shells. Waste Management 23. 825834.
Park, Polprasert., (2008). Phosphorus adsorption
characteristics of oyster shells and alum sludge and their
application for nutrient control in constructed wetland
system, Journal of Environmental Science and Health
Part A. 43.

6
7