Plant-based coagulants for water treatment

Abstract

The use of coagulants that are derived from natural material has significantly increased over the last decades due to the safety and cost-effectiveness use of such coagulants. Therefore, the current study aims to use a plant-based coagulant namely Moringa Oleifera seeds to remove the water turbidity. During the experimental work, samples of water of 250 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU) were mixed with various amounts of Moringa Oleifera seeds in the laboratory at room temperature (20 ± 1 °C) for 90 minutes. Every 10 minutes, 5.0 ml samples were collected using a plastic container and filtered to be checked using a spectrophotometer for the removal of turbidity. Besides, the impact of mixing time, dose of Moringa Oleifera, and pH on the removal of the turbidity was investigated. The outcome showed that the turbidity of the treated water decreases with the increase in the dosage of Moringa Oleifera and the mixing time. However, it was noticed that the removal efficiency of the turbidity decreases when the pH value is more than 7. The removal of the water turbidity of 92% was achieved using 8 g/l of Moringa Oleifera for 80 minutes.