Comparative studies on the flocculation efficiencies of <em>Moringa oleifera</em> (MO), polyacrylamide-grafted gum arabic (GA-g-PAAM) and blended products of MO and PA-g-PAAM

Abstract

Graft copolymerization of polyacrylamide onto gum arabic was carried out in aqueous medium at room temperature (30 o C) using previously optimized concentrations of initiator (ceric ion) and the monomer (acrylamide). The percentage graft yield was high (70%) due to optimization of reaction conditions. Reactive blends of Moringa oleifera (MO) and the graft copolymer (GA-g-PAAM) were also synthesized in different ratios of MO to GAg -PAAM. The blended and unblended graft copolymers and Moringa oleifera were characterized by infrared (IR) spectroscopy. Flocculation capabilities of GAg -PAAM, the reactive blends (RB), the physical blends (PB) and Moringa oleifera were studied on turbid river water using UV-Visible spectrophotometry at three different wavelengths (λ=400, λ=600 and λ=800 nm) in order to observe the effect of wavelength on flocculation efficiency. The results generally showed that the flocculation efficiency was a function of both flocculation time allowed and the wavelength of UV-radiation used. Hence, the flocculation efficiency was higher for longer flocculation times and longer wavelengths of UV-radiation and vice versa. The flocculation efficiencies obtained after 24 hours at λ=800 nm followed the order below: MO (99.61%) > GAg -PAAM (94.30%) > MO & GAg -PAAM 3:1 RB (91.16%) > 1:3 RB (89.58%) > 1:1 PB (87.07%) > 1:1 RB (82.35%). The sludge produced by the above water treatment chemicals was small in volume, biodegradable and consequently did not promote environmental degradation. Through chemical derivatization, gum arabic was transformed into a water treatment chemical with more advantages over conventional coagulants.

Combination of alum and extracted <i>Moringa oleifera</i> bioactive molecules powder for municipal wastewater treatment

“…Pritchard et al (2010) compared the use of aluminum sulfate and powder obtained from MO seeds separately on purification of drinking water and showed that MO removed 84% turbidity and 88% E. coli, whereas alum removed greater than 99% turbidity and E. coli. Few studies focus on using a combination of MO and other coagulants such as arabic gum (Alang et al, 2011).…”

In vitro Evaluations of Biodegradable Polyacrylamide Grafted Moringa Bark Gum Graft Copolymer (MOG-g- PAAM) as Biomedical and Controlled Drug Delivery Device Synthesized by Microwave Accelerated free Radical Synthesis

“…Moringa bark gum (MOG) is reported to have gel forming potential for topical preparations 10 as well as the graft copolymer of MOG grafted with polyacrylamide (PAAM) along with the blends of Gum Ghatti are utilized as efficient flocculant systems for sewage cleaning. 11 Moreover, biodegradation is a major issue with various synthetic polymers. Thus, various natural polymers are combined with synthetic polymers to make them biodegradable 12 and thus as an evidence for bacterial biodegradation, the polymers are tested in presence of bacterial culture, as these polymers degrades in presence of bacterial enzymes and thereby render them to be environment friendly.…”