PROCEEDINGS OF 2ND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CHEMICAL PROCESS AND PRODUCT ENGINEERING (ICCPPE) 2019, 2020
Aquaculture contributes a large number of world food supplies which increases rapidly over these ... more Aquaculture contributes a large number of world food supplies which increases rapidly over these few years. Similarly, there is a huge development of aquaculture in Malaysia over the years. However, aquaculture activities generate wastewater with high in nutrients where developing a proper treatment system is crucial. An appropriate wastewater treatment is needed to reduce uncontrolled pollution and environmental impacts while sustaining the development of aquaculture industry. Hence, this study focuses on the implementation of green technology method namely physical and biological in treating aquaculture wastewater. Major effect of releasing wastewater that is rich in nutrients is mainly eutrophication. This problem could be mitigated utilizing microalgae whereby the nutrients used as feed for microalgae growth. However, excess nutrients will cause undesirable consequences such as algal blooms due to the rapid growth of microalgae. Therefore, harvesting microalgae after treating the wastewater helps in the prevention of this problem. Current microalgae harvesting technology depends on sophisticated and complex approaches such as hollow fiber filtration, chemical flocculants and centrifugation, which are deemed feasible if high value products were obtained. The potentiality of Moringa oleifera, filamentous fungus (Aspergillus niger), microalgae (Ankistrodesmus sp.), Biofloc Technology (BFT) and chitosan as bio-flocculant were investigated in harvesting microalgae, Chlorella sp.. This type of development in phytoremediation and phycoremediation with continuous bio-harvesting could promote the use of sustainable green technology for effective aquaculture wastewater treatment.Aquaculture contributes a large number of world food supplies which increases rapidly over these few years. Similarly, there is a huge development of aquaculture in Malaysia over the years. However, aquaculture activities generate wastewater with high in nutrients where developing a proper treatment system is crucial. An appropriate wastewater treatment is needed to reduce uncontrolled pollution and environmental impacts while sustaining the development of aquaculture industry. Hence, this study focuses on the implementation of green technology method namely physical and biological in treating aquaculture wastewater. Major effect of releasing wastewater that is rich in nutrients is mainly eutrophication. This problem could be mitigated utilizing microalgae whereby the nutrients used as feed for microalgae growth. However, excess nutrients will cause undesirable consequences such as algal blooms due to the rapid growth of microalgae. Therefore, harvesting microalgae after treating the wastewater helps in t...
ABSTRACT The use of pesticide and its subsequent release to the environment is a major concern fo... more ABSTRACT The use of pesticide and its subsequent release to the environment is a major concern for modern society as concerns over environmental pollution associated with toxic emission are recognized due to contaminants present in pesticide (particularly malathion). Adsorption process using activated carbon is among the most effective techniques for the removal of pesticides in the treatment of various waste streams. The adsorption of pesticide containing malathion in agricultural runoff was investigated using granular-activated carbon (GAC) as the adsorbent; GAC made of coconut, and palm shells were used and their effectiveness in retaining the pesticide is discussed. A fixed-bed column test was performed to simulate the actual condition of adsorption in a continuous manner in a filtration process. Different flow rates were used to evaluate their effects on the column performance, where different breakthrough curves were obtained. The Adam–Bohart breakthrough curve equation was used to predict the breakthrough curve and to obtain the adsorption capacity of pesticide on GAC. The results showed that the Adam–Bohart equation fitted the experimental data well, and the use of a bed of GAC as the adsorbent in the set up showed high capacity in retaining the pesticide present in the aqueous solution, achieving removal efficiency at the rate of 71.4 and 82.9% for palm shell activated carbon and coconut shell activated carbon, respectively. Our results indicate that the use of GAC through adsorption process shows exceptional promise as a means for treating problematic pesticide in agricultural runoff.
... 05/07/2007, 11:12 43 Page 2. AHMAD, ENG GIAP, NORA'AINI, HALIM, MJMM NOOR & ... more ... 05/07/2007, 11:12 43 Page 2. AHMAD, ENG GIAP, NORA'AINI, HALIM, MJMM NOOR & ZAKARIA 44 ... Page 4. AHMAD, ENG GIAP, NORA'AINI, HALIM, MJMM NOOR & ZAKARIA 46 was used during filtration process and the clean water was used only for backwashing operation. ...
The excessive release of heavy metals into the environment is a major concern worldwide. Adsorpti... more The excessive release of heavy metals into the environment is a major concern worldwide. Adsorption process is among the most effective techniques for heavy metals removal from waste streams and activated carbon has been widely used as an adsorbent. Therefore, this study was carried out to examine the potential and effectiveness of granular activated carbon (GAC) to remove heavy metals, particularly cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) through adsorption from the prepared solutions respectively. A fixed bed column test was conducted to simulate the actual condition of adsorption in a continuous manner in a filtration process. Different flow rates were used to evaluate their effects on the column performance where different breakthrough curves were obtained. The Adam-Bohart breakthrough curve equation was used to predict the breakthrough curve and to obtain the adsorption capacity of cadmium and lead on GAC. The results showed that the Adam-Bohart equation fitted the experimental data well and cadmium and lead can be successfully removed by granular activated carbon (GAC) through the column test.
In this batch study, the adsorption of malathion by using granular activated carbon with differen... more In this batch study, the adsorption of malathion by using granular activated carbon with different parameters due to the particle size, dosage of carbons, as well as the initial concentration of malathion was investigated. Batch tests were carried out to determine the potential and the effectiveness of granular activated carbon (GAC) in removal of pesticide in agricultural run off. The granular activated carbon; coconut shell and palm shells were used and analyzed as the adsorbent material. The Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms models were applied to describe the characteristics of adsorption behavior. Equilibrium data fitted well with the Langmuir model and Freundlich model with maximum adsorption capacity of 909.1 mg/g. The results indicate that the GAC could be used to effectively adsorb pesticide (malathion) from agricultural runoff.
CITATIONS 44 READS 743 5 authors, including: Some of the authors of this publication are also wor... more CITATIONS 44 READS 743 5 authors, including: Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: iMB(TM): Intelligent Bio-engineered Microalgae Harvester View project Corrosion, Fluid Power, Marine Technology, Renewable Energy, Bio Fuel View project Azizah Endut Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin | UniSZA The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. All in-text references underlined in blue are added to the original document and are linked to publications on ResearchGate, letting you access and read them immediately.
The focus of this research is to study the potential of nanofiltration membrane technology in rem... more The focus of this research is to study the potential of nanofiltration membrane technology in removing ammonia-nitrogen from the aquaculture system. One of the major fabrication parameters that directly affect the separation performance is shear rate or casting rate during membrane fabrication. In this study, asymmetric polyethersulfone (PES) nanofiltration membranes were prepared at five different shear rates within the range of 67-400 s À1 . Membrane productivity and separation performance were assessed via pure water, salt and ammonia-nitrogen permeation experiments, and their structural properties were determined by employing the combination of the irreversible thermodynamic (IT) model, solution diffusion model, steric hindrance pore (SHP) model and Teorell-Meyers (TMS) model. The study reveals that the alteration of shear rate enormously affects the membrane morphology and structural parameters, hence subsequently significantly influencing the membrane performance. It was found that, membrane produced at the shear rate 200 s À1 or equivalent to 10 s of casting speed during membrane fabrications managed to remove about 68% of ammonia-nitrogen, in which its separation performance is the most favourable by means of highest flux and rejection ability towards unwanted solutes. Besides, from the research findings, nano-membrane technology is a potential candidate for the treatment of aquaculture wastewater.
Granular filter is widely used in removing suspended substance from treating water. Its reliabili... more Granular filter is widely used in removing suspended substance from treating water. Its reliability is well accepted and has been modified into different modes of operation and media combination, etc., in order to accommodate its different purposes of usage. A more ...
Nanofiltration (NF) membranes is one of the alternative technology that could be used to remove p... more Nanofiltration (NF) membranes is one of the alternative technology that could be used to remove pesticides due to the molecular weights of almost pesticides are in the range of 200-400 Da. The membranes normally fabricated using a ternary dope formulation of polyethersulfone (PES), N-rnethyl-2 pyrrolidone (NMP), and water by a dry/wet phase inversion process using an electrically controlled flat sheet membrane casting machine. The produced membranes immersed in different post-treatment coagulation bath. The performance and morphology of produced membrane were examined. The membrane with most optimum performance then tested with pesticides. The effect of concentration and pH of the pesticide rejection were analyzed. Ke1,vv ord : Nanofiltration, polye thersulfo ne, posttre atment, pe stic ide
ABSTRACT Membrane separation is an effective wastewater treatment alternative. However, as with a... more ABSTRACT Membrane separation is an effective wastewater treatment alternative. However, as with all membrane processes, the fouling effect has always been one of the major limiting factors for their usage. Of the current available membrane modules, the tubular configuration is the least affected with fouling because of the relatively large passage. A novel approach of using tubular woven fabric membranes, naturally cheaper to produce, has been studied in treating secondary oxidation pond effluent. The membrane was prepared by sewing two strips of fabric, on both sides. Its tubular configuration is obtained by the flow of aqueous solution through, at an appropriate pressure and flow rate. Thus, there is no need for housing, as with most available tubular membranes in the market. Its flexible character also facilitates external mechanical cleansing. The fabric has pore sizes ranging between 20 and 40 μm. The effects of batch dosing the secondary pond effluent with Nalco Ultrion 8109W polyelectrolytes. with the main objective of improving filtrate flux, was investigated. The batch polyelectrolyte pretreatment, at three times the optimal dosage of floe jar test, showed a tremendous increase (five fold) on filtrate pseudo-steady-state flux. The pseudo-steady-state flux was 70 l/m2.h at 0.65 ml/1 dosage.
International Journal of Environmental Studies, 2004
The removal of arsenic from water by a microfiltration-coagulation process was investigated. In g... more The removal of arsenic from water by a microfiltration-coagulation process was investigated. In general, arsenic removal was enhanced in the presence of a coagulant. Arsenic was removed (83% and 72%) from water containing 243-255 g/l arsenic, resulting in arsenic concentrations of 40 g/L and 68 g/L, using microfiltration-coagulation and microfiltration, respectively. Furthermore, arsenic removal increased with decreasing specific flux, in which an almost linear relationships (r 2 = 0.905) was found to relate the specific flux to arsenic removal during the microfiltration-coagulation process. Coupling microfiltration with coagulation was also found to be effective in turbidity removal. Turbidity was decreased by 94% using microfiltration-coagulation processes, while 70% turbidity removal was achieved using microfiltration.
International Journal of Environmental Studies, 2008
This study presents the design and performance of pilot scale constructed wetlands in treating a ... more This study presents the design and performance of pilot scale constructed wetlands in treating a mild domestic wastewater generated from the Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia. Three cells of subsurface constructed wetlands were built in equal dimensions, two cells were planted with Lepironia articulata, an indigenous Malaysian aquatic plant, while one cell was left unplanted to investigate the role of the plant in treatment process. Those cells were operated at four different hydraulic retention times in two phases ranged from 0.5 to 7 days. The results showed that the constructed wetlands were capable of removing about 56-77% of COD, 50-88% of TSS, 20-88% of TP, 27-96% of NH 4 + and 99% of total coliforms numbers. Different hydraulic retention times caused significant effect on removal rate of COD, TP and NH 4 + , but not to TSS and total coliforms removal. The total number of coliforms was positively correlated with concentration of COD, TP and NH 4 + in effluents. Planted wetland cells were superior in both NH 4 + and TP removal to unplanted wetland cells.
Recirculating aquaculture-hydroponic systems were designed to provide an artificial, controlled e... more Recirculating aquaculture-hydroponic systems were designed to provide an artificial, controlled environment that optimizes the growth of fish (or other aquatic species) and soil-less plants, complete control of water quality, the production schedule and the fish product, while conserving water resources. Nutrients removal such as inorganic nitrogen and phosphate is essential for aquaculture wastewater treatment to protect receiving waters from eutrophication as well as for potential reuse of the treated water. In this study, a prototype of an aquaponic system was built at the Freshwater Hatchery Unit on the University Malaysia Terengganu campus. The system consists of a fish culture tank, hydroponic trough, sump, sand filter and water holding tank. Hydroponic troughs were planted with water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) that been used to treat wastewater from an aquaculture system stocked with African catfish. The unplanted hydroponic trough was concurrently run as a control unit. The effect of five different water flow rates was tested in order to relate nutrients removal, water quality with plant growth. The results showed that the aquaponic recirculating system removed 5-day biochemical oxygen demand (47-65%), total suspended solids (67-83%), total ammonia nitrogen (64-78%), and nitrite-nitrogen (68-89%), and demonstrated positive correlated with flow rates. Total phosphorus and nitrate-nitrogen removal rates varied from 43% to 53% and 42% to 65%, respectively, and were negatively correlated with flow rates. It was found that all flow rates were efficient in nutrient removal and in maintaining the water quality parameters within the acceptable and safe limits for growth and survival of fish.
PROCEEDINGS OF 2ND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CHEMICAL PROCESS AND PRODUCT ENGINEERING (ICCPPE) 2019, 2020
Aquaculture contributes a large number of world food supplies which increases rapidly over these ... more Aquaculture contributes a large number of world food supplies which increases rapidly over these few years. Similarly, there is a huge development of aquaculture in Malaysia over the years. However, aquaculture activities generate wastewater with high in nutrients where developing a proper treatment system is crucial. An appropriate wastewater treatment is needed to reduce uncontrolled pollution and environmental impacts while sustaining the development of aquaculture industry. Hence, this study focuses on the implementation of green technology method namely physical and biological in treating aquaculture wastewater. Major effect of releasing wastewater that is rich in nutrients is mainly eutrophication. This problem could be mitigated utilizing microalgae whereby the nutrients used as feed for microalgae growth. However, excess nutrients will cause undesirable consequences such as algal blooms due to the rapid growth of microalgae. Therefore, harvesting microalgae after treating the wastewater helps in the prevention of this problem. Current microalgae harvesting technology depends on sophisticated and complex approaches such as hollow fiber filtration, chemical flocculants and centrifugation, which are deemed feasible if high value products were obtained. The potentiality of Moringa oleifera, filamentous fungus (Aspergillus niger), microalgae (Ankistrodesmus sp.), Biofloc Technology (BFT) and chitosan as bio-flocculant were investigated in harvesting microalgae, Chlorella sp.. This type of development in phytoremediation and phycoremediation with continuous bio-harvesting could promote the use of sustainable green technology for effective aquaculture wastewater treatment.Aquaculture contributes a large number of world food supplies which increases rapidly over these few years. Similarly, there is a huge development of aquaculture in Malaysia over the years. However, aquaculture activities generate wastewater with high in nutrients where developing a proper treatment system is crucial. An appropriate wastewater treatment is needed to reduce uncontrolled pollution and environmental impacts while sustaining the development of aquaculture industry. Hence, this study focuses on the implementation of green technology method namely physical and biological in treating aquaculture wastewater. Major effect of releasing wastewater that is rich in nutrients is mainly eutrophication. This problem could be mitigated utilizing microalgae whereby the nutrients used as feed for microalgae growth. However, excess nutrients will cause undesirable consequences such as algal blooms due to the rapid growth of microalgae. Therefore, harvesting microalgae after treating the wastewater helps in t...
ABSTRACT The use of pesticide and its subsequent release to the environment is a major concern fo... more ABSTRACT The use of pesticide and its subsequent release to the environment is a major concern for modern society as concerns over environmental pollution associated with toxic emission are recognized due to contaminants present in pesticide (particularly malathion). Adsorption process using activated carbon is among the most effective techniques for the removal of pesticides in the treatment of various waste streams. The adsorption of pesticide containing malathion in agricultural runoff was investigated using granular-activated carbon (GAC) as the adsorbent; GAC made of coconut, and palm shells were used and their effectiveness in retaining the pesticide is discussed. A fixed-bed column test was performed to simulate the actual condition of adsorption in a continuous manner in a filtration process. Different flow rates were used to evaluate their effects on the column performance, where different breakthrough curves were obtained. The Adam–Bohart breakthrough curve equation was used to predict the breakthrough curve and to obtain the adsorption capacity of pesticide on GAC. The results showed that the Adam–Bohart equation fitted the experimental data well, and the use of a bed of GAC as the adsorbent in the set up showed high capacity in retaining the pesticide present in the aqueous solution, achieving removal efficiency at the rate of 71.4 and 82.9% for palm shell activated carbon and coconut shell activated carbon, respectively. Our results indicate that the use of GAC through adsorption process shows exceptional promise as a means for treating problematic pesticide in agricultural runoff.
... 05/07/2007, 11:12 43 Page 2. AHMAD, ENG GIAP, NORA'AINI, HALIM, MJMM NOOR & ... more ... 05/07/2007, 11:12 43 Page 2. AHMAD, ENG GIAP, NORA'AINI, HALIM, MJMM NOOR & ZAKARIA 44 ... Page 4. AHMAD, ENG GIAP, NORA'AINI, HALIM, MJMM NOOR & ZAKARIA 46 was used during filtration process and the clean water was used only for backwashing operation. ...
The excessive release of heavy metals into the environment is a major concern worldwide. Adsorpti... more The excessive release of heavy metals into the environment is a major concern worldwide. Adsorption process is among the most effective techniques for heavy metals removal from waste streams and activated carbon has been widely used as an adsorbent. Therefore, this study was carried out to examine the potential and effectiveness of granular activated carbon (GAC) to remove heavy metals, particularly cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) through adsorption from the prepared solutions respectively. A fixed bed column test was conducted to simulate the actual condition of adsorption in a continuous manner in a filtration process. Different flow rates were used to evaluate their effects on the column performance where different breakthrough curves were obtained. The Adam-Bohart breakthrough curve equation was used to predict the breakthrough curve and to obtain the adsorption capacity of cadmium and lead on GAC. The results showed that the Adam-Bohart equation fitted the experimental data well and cadmium and lead can be successfully removed by granular activated carbon (GAC) through the column test.
In this batch study, the adsorption of malathion by using granular activated carbon with differen... more In this batch study, the adsorption of malathion by using granular activated carbon with different parameters due to the particle size, dosage of carbons, as well as the initial concentration of malathion was investigated. Batch tests were carried out to determine the potential and the effectiveness of granular activated carbon (GAC) in removal of pesticide in agricultural run off. The granular activated carbon; coconut shell and palm shells were used and analyzed as the adsorbent material. The Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms models were applied to describe the characteristics of adsorption behavior. Equilibrium data fitted well with the Langmuir model and Freundlich model with maximum adsorption capacity of 909.1 mg/g. The results indicate that the GAC could be used to effectively adsorb pesticide (malathion) from agricultural runoff.
CITATIONS 44 READS 743 5 authors, including: Some of the authors of this publication are also wor... more CITATIONS 44 READS 743 5 authors, including: Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: iMB(TM): Intelligent Bio-engineered Microalgae Harvester View project Corrosion, Fluid Power, Marine Technology, Renewable Energy, Bio Fuel View project Azizah Endut Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin | UniSZA The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. All in-text references underlined in blue are added to the original document and are linked to publications on ResearchGate, letting you access and read them immediately.
The focus of this research is to study the potential of nanofiltration membrane technology in rem... more The focus of this research is to study the potential of nanofiltration membrane technology in removing ammonia-nitrogen from the aquaculture system. One of the major fabrication parameters that directly affect the separation performance is shear rate or casting rate during membrane fabrication. In this study, asymmetric polyethersulfone (PES) nanofiltration membranes were prepared at five different shear rates within the range of 67-400 s À1 . Membrane productivity and separation performance were assessed via pure water, salt and ammonia-nitrogen permeation experiments, and their structural properties were determined by employing the combination of the irreversible thermodynamic (IT) model, solution diffusion model, steric hindrance pore (SHP) model and Teorell-Meyers (TMS) model. The study reveals that the alteration of shear rate enormously affects the membrane morphology and structural parameters, hence subsequently significantly influencing the membrane performance. It was found that, membrane produced at the shear rate 200 s À1 or equivalent to 10 s of casting speed during membrane fabrications managed to remove about 68% of ammonia-nitrogen, in which its separation performance is the most favourable by means of highest flux and rejection ability towards unwanted solutes. Besides, from the research findings, nano-membrane technology is a potential candidate for the treatment of aquaculture wastewater.
Granular filter is widely used in removing suspended substance from treating water. Its reliabili... more Granular filter is widely used in removing suspended substance from treating water. Its reliability is well accepted and has been modified into different modes of operation and media combination, etc., in order to accommodate its different purposes of usage. A more ...
Nanofiltration (NF) membranes is one of the alternative technology that could be used to remove p... more Nanofiltration (NF) membranes is one of the alternative technology that could be used to remove pesticides due to the molecular weights of almost pesticides are in the range of 200-400 Da. The membranes normally fabricated using a ternary dope formulation of polyethersulfone (PES), N-rnethyl-2 pyrrolidone (NMP), and water by a dry/wet phase inversion process using an electrically controlled flat sheet membrane casting machine. The produced membranes immersed in different post-treatment coagulation bath. The performance and morphology of produced membrane were examined. The membrane with most optimum performance then tested with pesticides. The effect of concentration and pH of the pesticide rejection were analyzed. Ke1,vv ord : Nanofiltration, polye thersulfo ne, posttre atment, pe stic ide
ABSTRACT Membrane separation is an effective wastewater treatment alternative. However, as with a... more ABSTRACT Membrane separation is an effective wastewater treatment alternative. However, as with all membrane processes, the fouling effect has always been one of the major limiting factors for their usage. Of the current available membrane modules, the tubular configuration is the least affected with fouling because of the relatively large passage. A novel approach of using tubular woven fabric membranes, naturally cheaper to produce, has been studied in treating secondary oxidation pond effluent. The membrane was prepared by sewing two strips of fabric, on both sides. Its tubular configuration is obtained by the flow of aqueous solution through, at an appropriate pressure and flow rate. Thus, there is no need for housing, as with most available tubular membranes in the market. Its flexible character also facilitates external mechanical cleansing. The fabric has pore sizes ranging between 20 and 40 μm. The effects of batch dosing the secondary pond effluent with Nalco Ultrion 8109W polyelectrolytes. with the main objective of improving filtrate flux, was investigated. The batch polyelectrolyte pretreatment, at three times the optimal dosage of floe jar test, showed a tremendous increase (five fold) on filtrate pseudo-steady-state flux. The pseudo-steady-state flux was 70 l/m2.h at 0.65 ml/1 dosage.
International Journal of Environmental Studies, 2004
The removal of arsenic from water by a microfiltration-coagulation process was investigated. In g... more The removal of arsenic from water by a microfiltration-coagulation process was investigated. In general, arsenic removal was enhanced in the presence of a coagulant. Arsenic was removed (83% and 72%) from water containing 243-255 g/l arsenic, resulting in arsenic concentrations of 40 g/L and 68 g/L, using microfiltration-coagulation and microfiltration, respectively. Furthermore, arsenic removal increased with decreasing specific flux, in which an almost linear relationships (r 2 = 0.905) was found to relate the specific flux to arsenic removal during the microfiltration-coagulation process. Coupling microfiltration with coagulation was also found to be effective in turbidity removal. Turbidity was decreased by 94% using microfiltration-coagulation processes, while 70% turbidity removal was achieved using microfiltration.
International Journal of Environmental Studies, 2008
This study presents the design and performance of pilot scale constructed wetlands in treating a ... more This study presents the design and performance of pilot scale constructed wetlands in treating a mild domestic wastewater generated from the Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia. Three cells of subsurface constructed wetlands were built in equal dimensions, two cells were planted with Lepironia articulata, an indigenous Malaysian aquatic plant, while one cell was left unplanted to investigate the role of the plant in treatment process. Those cells were operated at four different hydraulic retention times in two phases ranged from 0.5 to 7 days. The results showed that the constructed wetlands were capable of removing about 56-77% of COD, 50-88% of TSS, 20-88% of TP, 27-96% of NH 4 + and 99% of total coliforms numbers. Different hydraulic retention times caused significant effect on removal rate of COD, TP and NH 4 + , but not to TSS and total coliforms removal. The total number of coliforms was positively correlated with concentration of COD, TP and NH 4 + in effluents. Planted wetland cells were superior in both NH 4 + and TP removal to unplanted wetland cells.
Recirculating aquaculture-hydroponic systems were designed to provide an artificial, controlled e... more Recirculating aquaculture-hydroponic systems were designed to provide an artificial, controlled environment that optimizes the growth of fish (or other aquatic species) and soil-less plants, complete control of water quality, the production schedule and the fish product, while conserving water resources. Nutrients removal such as inorganic nitrogen and phosphate is essential for aquaculture wastewater treatment to protect receiving waters from eutrophication as well as for potential reuse of the treated water. In this study, a prototype of an aquaponic system was built at the Freshwater Hatchery Unit on the University Malaysia Terengganu campus. The system consists of a fish culture tank, hydroponic trough, sump, sand filter and water holding tank. Hydroponic troughs were planted with water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) that been used to treat wastewater from an aquaculture system stocked with African catfish. The unplanted hydroponic trough was concurrently run as a control unit. The effect of five different water flow rates was tested in order to relate nutrients removal, water quality with plant growth. The results showed that the aquaponic recirculating system removed 5-day biochemical oxygen demand (47-65%), total suspended solids (67-83%), total ammonia nitrogen (64-78%), and nitrite-nitrogen (68-89%), and demonstrated positive correlated with flow rates. Total phosphorus and nitrate-nitrogen removal rates varied from 43% to 53% and 42% to 65%, respectively, and were negatively correlated with flow rates. It was found that all flow rates were efficient in nutrient removal and in maintaining the water quality parameters within the acceptable and safe limits for growth and survival of fish.
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