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Removal of Turbidity From Drinking Water Using Natural Coagulants
Removal of Turbidity From Drinking Water Using Natural Coagulants
A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T
Article history: The ability of three plant materials, seeds such as Moringa oleifera, Strychnos potatorum and Phaseolus
Received 16 March 2013 vulgaris, to act as natural coagulants was tested using synthetic turbid water formulated to resemble the
Accepted 19 August 2013 drinking water. An improved and alternative method for the extraction of the active coagulant agent M.
Available online 30 August 2013
oleifera, S. potatorum, P. vulgaris seeds was developed and compared with the conventional water
extraction method. In the new method the seeds were extracted using different solvents of NaCl and
Keywords: NaOH to extract the active coagulant agent from natural coagulants. In addition, ultrasound was
Coagulation
investigated as a potential method to assist the extraction process. Batch coagulation experiments were
Moringa oleifera
Strychnos potatorum
conducted to evaluate the performance of the extracted coagulant achieved through various schemes.
Phaseolus vulgaris The optimum turbidity removal at different values of initial synthetic wastewater turbidity from 100 to
Turbidity 500 NTU was investigated. Sodium chloride at 0.5 M was found to provide a high turbidity removal of
>99% compared to NaOH and distilled water extract. Among these three coagulant M. oleifera seed
extracts is the highest performance in turbidity removal. The optimum coagulant dosage showed the
coagulation with blended coagulant M. oleifera, S. potatorum and P. vulgaris. The study was carried out for
initial turbidity of the sample such as 100 NTU (low), 250 NTU (medium) and 500 NTU (high). For the
natural coagulant dosage was found to be 250–1000 mg/L respectively. It was found that the percentage
of removal is highest in M. oleifera.
ß 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering
Chemistry.
1. Introduction These coagulants must be safe for human health and biodegrad-
able.
A great problem in many developing countries is to get clean In recent years, numerous studies on a variety of plant materials
drinking water at low price. This can be normally solved by adding which can be used as source of natural coagulants have been
chemical coagulants such as aluminum sulfate which is generally reported. For example natural coagulants from Moringa oleifera
at a high cost. The application of a coagulation/flocculation process (drumstick) [7], common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) [8] and Nirmali
is applied in water, wastewater treatment to remove turbidity, seed (Strychnos potatorum) [9,10] have been investigated. The
color and natural organic matter [1,2]. Inorganic coagulants such as material that has received the greatest degree of attention is the
aluminum sulfate, ferric chloride and calcium carbonate and seed of M. oleifera [11–13]. M. oleifera seeds contain between 30%
synthetic organic polymer (polyaluminium chloride (PACl) poly- and 35% (w/w) of vegetable oil known as Behen (or) Ben oil. M.
ethylene imine) are common coagulant used in this treatment. oleifera (drumstick) treatment due to the presence of water soluble
However the sludge obtained from treatments using aluminum cationic coagulant protein is able to reduce the turbidity of the
salts leads to disposal problems such as aluminum accumulation in water treated [14]. The seed extracts of S. potatorum (Nirmali)
the environment [3]. Moreover, some studies have reported that contain the anionic polyelectrolyte [15]. The crude extracts of
residual aluminum sulfate (alum) and polyaluminium chloride common bean (P. vulgaris) seed showed ability to act as a natural
may induce Alzhemier’s disease [4,5]. Whereas the synthetic coagulant [16].
organic polymers, such as acrylamide, have neurotoxic and The common bean seed has a food grade nature and contains no
carcinogenic effects [6]. One possible solution to these problems oil [17]. The three agro based seeds M. oleifera (drumstick), S.
may be natural coagulants which are preferably alternative potatorum (Nirmali), and P. vulgaris (common bean) are non-toxic
excellent method for removal of turbidity from drinking water. and effective coagulant aids useful for removing turbidity and
bacteria from water. In this study the aim is to improve the
coagulant agent from M. oleifera, P. vulgaris and S. potatorum. Since
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 044 28544894; fax: +90 044 28510732. the active coagulant agent in the M. oleifera seed is believed to be a
E-mail address: ramam.gm@gmail.com (G. Muthuraman). soluble cationic protein [18–20], it is of interest to investigate
1226-086X/$ – see front matter ß 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jiec.2013.08.023
1728 G. Muthuraman, S. Sasikala / Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry 20 (2014) 1727–1731
coagulant agent extraction using the different type of solvent, such solvents used were distilled water (DW), sodium chloride (NaCl)
as NaCl, NaOH and water. In addition previous research has also and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution. The solvent concentration
made use of ultrasound treatment in order to improve the selection was based on preliminary laboratory results. The
extraction method [21]. The advantage of selectivity of natural suspension was filtered through a filter paper and the filtrate
coagulants used is having antimicrobial properties [22,23]. The solution was used in a subsequent jar floc test. To prevent any
natural coagulants is the low cost method for removal of turbidity aging effects, such as pH and coagulation activity due to microbial
from drinking water. In the present study we collected pond water decomposition of organic compounds during storage, fresh
and used various naturally available seeds for removal of turbidity. coagulants agent was prepared and used immediately for each
sequence of experiments.
2. Experiments
2.6. Coagulation experiments
2.1. Materials
The jar test was performed to evaluate the performance of the
Sulfuric acid (98%), glycerol (95%), hydrochloric acid (35.4%), coagulants agent extracted from the various processes as described
ethyl alcohol (95%), and silver nitrate (99.5%) were obtained from above based on standard methods. Six 500 mL beakers were filled
Merck (India). with 200 mL of turbidity water and placed in the slots of a jar tester
which was equipped with an illuminator.
2.2. Apparatus and measurements Various dosages of seed extracts were added to each beaker and
agitated for 4 min at 100 rpm for rapid mixing. The mixing speed
Turbidity was measured using a turbidity meter (ELICO CL 52D was reduced to 40 rpm for another 25 min. All the suspensions
NEPHELOMETER) and it was expressed in nephelometric turbidity were then left for sedimentation; the clarified samples were
units (NTU). pH is measured using a pH meter (ELICO LI 120 pH collected from the top of the beaker and filtered using filter paper
metre). Analytical instrument (ELICO PE 135 DO Analyser) was to remove any remaining sediment. The turbidity of each clarified
used to determine the dissolved oxygen. Conductivity meter sample was then measured using turbidity meter. The initial
(ELICO CM 180) was used to measure the water conductivity, turbidity was studied from 100 to 500 NTU and three types of
sulfate and chloride concentration was determined according to solvent namely NaOH, NaCl and distilled water were employed.
standard titrimetric methods (APHA-2012), using (ELICO SL 159) These parameters were varied one at a time to identify the
UV–Vis spectrophotometer. optimum conditions for each parameter. All the experiments were
repeated at least twice for consistency and results averaged.
2.3. Preparation of kaolin synthetic wastewater
2.7. Settling column test
In this study, synthetic turbid water was prepared by adding
kaolin a stock kaolin suspension to distilled water for all Settling column tests is carried out using the optimum dosage
coagulation experiments. The stock kaolin suspension was of coagulants to see the turbidity removal efficiency at different
prepared by dissolving 10 g of kaolin powder in 1 L of distilled settling time. Also the effect of different types of coagulants used
water. The suspension was stirred slowly at 20 rpm for 1 h to for the effective sedimentation and settlement characteristics of
achieve uniform dispersion of the kaolin particles. The suspension the turbid water of different type of initial turbidity samples,
was then permitted to stand for 24 h to allow for complete diameters of settling columns are studied. The settling column test
hydration of the kaolin. This suspension was used as a stock was carried out for no coagulant and for different types of
solution for the preparation of water samples of varying turbidity coagulants M. oleifera [drumstick], P. vulgaris [common bean], and
for the coagulations tests. The initial pH was adjusted with 0.1 M S. potatorum [Nirmali]. The optimum dosage found in the jar test is
NaOH (or) 0.1 M HCl to obtain desired values of turbidity and pH used in this settling columns test, which depends upon the settling
for the synthetic turbid water. columns. Dose calculation required for that particular volume of a
settling column was carried out. The optimum dosages are added
2.4. Preparation of natural coagulants seed powder in the settling column and at a constant time interval the samples
are drawn from the sampling ports of settling column and their
Sample 1: M. oleifera. turbidity is measured. The measured turbidities of each sample
Sample 2: S. potatorum. from each sampling port at constant time are tabulated.
Sample 3: P. vulgaris.
3. Result and discussion
These husks of the three seeds were removed manually. Good
quality seeds were selected and the kernels were ground to a fine
3.1. Physicochemical characteristics of turbidity water given in
powder (63–500 mm) using an ordinary food processor. The seed
Table 1
powder was then used in each experiment.
The physicochemical characteristics such as turbidity, alkalini-
2.5. Extraction of active component from seed
ty, hardness, sulfate, chloride and other ions concentration was
measured for pond water and given in Table 1.
Natural coagulants were obtained from three types of seed:
3.2. Effects of using different solvents as the extracting agent of the
Sample 1: M. oleifera.
coagulant from natural seeds
Sample 2: S. potatorum.
Sample 3: P. vulgaris.
In the determination of best solvent to be used for the
Seeds were ground and sieved through the sieve pore size of extraction of the active coagulant agent from M.O seeds, the effects
0.4 mm. 250 mg of seed powder was blended with 1000 mL of of M.O 0.5 NaCl and 0.5 M NaOH were compared with M.O distilled
solvent using an ordinary food processor (Model BL333, Khind) for water. Fig. 1 shows the turbidity removal of synthetic wastewater
2 min to extract the active coagulation agent from the seeds. The using these three types of solvents. At 500 NTU M.O 0.5 M NaCl
G. Muthuraman, S. Sasikala / Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry 20 (2014) 1727–1731 1729
Table 1
Physical and chemical parameters for untreated and treated waters.
could effectively coagulate more than 99% of the initial turbidity, of turbidity removal. Seeds extracted using NaCl demonstrated a
while the M.O 0.5 M NaOH provided 95% turbidity removal. Seeds greater performance compared to the other solvents.
extracted using NaCl demonstrated a greater performance
compared to the other solvents. Fig. 2 shows that P. vulgaris seed 3.3. Effects of using an ultrasound-assisted extraction method
shows the turbidity removal of synthetic wastewater using three
types of solvent. At 500 NTU P.V-DW and P.V 0.5 M NaCl could The effects of combined blending and ultrasound for extracting
effectively coagulate more than 85% of the in initial turbidity, while the active coagulant agent from natural coagulant seeds with
the P.V 0.5 M NaOH provided 85% of the initial turbidity. Seeds different solvents shown in Fig. 4. The longer the seed was
extracted using NaCl demonstrated a greater performance subjected to the combination treatment, the less was the turbidity
compared to the other solvents. removal from the synthetic wastewater. The maximum turbidity
In Fig. 3, a S. potatorum (S.P) seed shows the turbidity removal of reduction in M. oleifera for distilled water, NaCl and NaOH was
synthetic wastewater using three types of solvents. At 500 NTU observed, with percentage turbidity removal of 98.2%, 95% and
S.P-DW and S.P 0.5 M NaCl could effectively coagulate more than 93.2% respectively. When the treatment time was increased from,
95% of the initial turbidity, while the S.P 0.5 M NaOH provided 93% the percentage of turbidity reduction using the distilled water and
Table 2
A comparative study of turbidity reduction efficiency of different coagulants.
Coagulants Dose used mg/L % of turbidity reduction 100 NTU % of turbidity reduction 250 NTU % of turbidity reduction 500 NTU
4. Conclusion
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