Student of IPB Utilized Asam Jawa (Tamarindus indica) Seeds to Process Gold Liquid Wastes
As the world population and global economies continue to grow at an increasingly fast pace, and due to advancements in science and technology, the demand for critical materials, including gold, platinum?group metals and rare earth elements, is rapidly rising. Gold mining does provide a high profit but here other waste generated was able to damage the environment with heavy metals contained. Conventional mining activities can result in the pollution of soils, groundwater and surface waters. Waste processing is mandatory for the miners. Various methods of wastewater treatment are now continuously evaluated to determine the best method in treating wastewater.
The student of the Department of Aquatic Resource Management of the Faculty Fisheries and Marine Science of Bogor Agricultural Institute (FPIK IPB), Rofi'ul Hidayah initiate using asam Jawa, or tamarind (Tamarindus indica) seeds to reduce the heavy metal contained in traditional gold mining wastes water.
Under the supervision of Dr. Ir. Hefni Effendi, M.Ph. Ir. Sigid Hariyadi, M.Sc, Rofi'ul Hidayah tried to process the gold mining waste by coagulation method (clotting). In this method, asam Jawa seed powders were added to the wastewater then the asam Jawa extracts will trap the hazardous compounds and heavy metals in microscopic clumps (flocs). They were then precipitated, and the heavy metals be removed through coagulation just like the dissolved particles.
The results of this study indicate that the use of Java acid seeds with a dose of 0.3 g / L can reduce the mercury weight of 93.09% and decrease the Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) by 76.74%. The use of dose of 0.4 g / L was also capable of reducing dissolved solids of 96.95%.
"It is expected that the application of asam Jawa seed powder in traditional gold mining waste, it will drastically reduce the heavy metals and other harmful compounds, the processing costs will also be reduced. As it will utilize natural materials, thus it is environmentally friendly," he said. (Wied)
