The Moringa oleifera is an important commodity plant which has been traditionally used for the treatment of water in tropical area of the world. This study therefore investigated the use of M. oleifera seeds powder as bio-coagulant for water treatment. The effects of parameters such as dosage, high speed time, high speed, low speed and low speed time on the residual turbidity were evaluated using the response surface methodology. The results obtained from the preliminary studies conducted, provided three independent factors, viz low speed (40-80 rpm), low speed time (20-60 min) and dosage (0.25-1.25 mg/L) which were optimized using the optimal water turbidity. However, the high speed and the high speed time were fixed at 100 rpm and 6 min, respectively. The results obtained from experimental design placed the optimum condition at low speed, low speed time and dosage as 40 rpm, 60 min and 0.75 mg/L, respectively. Under this condition, the predicted (theoretical) residual turbidity was 4.73 NTU. The result of the ANOVA for the optimization of the residual turbidity showed that the quadratic model was significant at 95% confidence level (p < 0.05). Moreover, the low speed time (B) and dosage (C) were both significant, whereas the low speeds (A) were not significant factors in the optimization of residual turbidity. Finally, the result obtained therefore showed the potential of M. oleifera residue as natural coagulants in the effective treatment of water for drinking purpose. The lower turbidity (< 5 NTU) achieved from this study confirmed the potential of this important eco-friendly natural product for the treatment of water.

No abstract

Inrecent times, the consumption of water for domestic and industrial use has been on an increasing trend with a rise in demand. Therefore, a need for a plant-based alternative of water treatment process at a lower cost using an environmentally friendly approach. Moringa olifeira is an example ogf the plant-based materials usually grown in developing countries with a natural coagulating property. In this study, the Jar test was conducted to evaluate the performance of Moringa olifeira cake residue (MOCR) as biocoagulant for the treatment of water for safe drinking. The result obtained showed the lowest turbidity, pH, TDS, and water conductivity value as 4.7 NTU (0.75 mg/L), 5.2 (2.5 mg/L), 40 ppm (1.0 mg/L), and 50us/cm (0.50 mg/L), respectively. Moreover, the standards COD and BOD values were less than the recommended Malaysian Standard of Water Quality of 250 mg/L and 100 mg/L, respectively. Hence, MOCR therefore is a potential source for plant-based coagulating agent for water treatment for domestic drinking water.

No abstract