Improvement of the flocculation process in water treatment by using moringa oleifera seeds extract

• Main Authors: J. Sánchez-Martín, J. Beltrán-Heredia, J. A. Peres
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Brazilian Society of Chemical Engineering 2012-09-01
• Series: Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering
• Subjects: Moringa oleifera; Surface water; Flocculation; Natural coagulants
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-66322012000300006

Water scarcity encourages researchers to keep working on natural coagulant agents such as Moringa oleifera seed extract, that could be used even in developing countries. With this scope, this investigation is focused on the optimization of certain parameters affecting the use of this coagulant product in the clarification of real surface water. Acidic pH levels seem to enhance the coagulation performance and the turbidity removal increases as the stirring period becomes longer (up to 95% with 40 min). The optimum stirring rate is identified as 80 rpm. Water clarified with this optimum coagulation and flocculation process is turbidity-competitive with other well known coagulants and flocculants and its quality is inside standard ranges for clarified water. No microbial growth is observed within the first 72 hours after the coagulant trials.