Investigation of Ca and Mg Removal Capability of Cactus Powder from Hard Water

Abstract

Water that contains high amounts of Mg and Ca metals is hard water. The presence of these metal ions in water prevents the water from lather formation with soap. This leads to the consumption of large amounts of soaps which cause loss of economy. In light of the problem, this study is conducted to investigate the capability of cactus powder to remove Mg and Ca metals from hard water using FAAS. The result revealed that the concentration of both Mg and Ca metals decreased as the dose of cactus powder increased. The concentration of Mg was 5.965 ppm in the absent of cactus powder, but it was 6.700 ppm at 0.5 g, 2.967 ppm at 1.5 g, 1.833 ppm at 2.5 g, 2.200 ppm at 3.5 g and 1.900 ppm at 4.5 g of cactus powder. In parallel way, the concentration of Ca was 4.967 ppm in the absent of cactus powder, but it decreased as 3.067 ppm at 0.5 g, 1.667 ppm at 1.5 g, 0.933 ppm at 2.5 g, 0.967 ppm at 3.5 g and 1.033 ppm at 4.5 g with cactus powder. The percentage removal of both Mg and Ca metals from hard water increased as the dose of cactus powder increased. The percentage removal efficiency of cactus powder increased from 0.00% to 68.2% for Mg metal, and from 0.00% to 79.2% for Ca metal as the dose of cactus powder increased from 0.0 g to 4.5g, respectively. The percentage removal of Ca metal increased with contact time as 27.89% at 1 hr, 38.69% at 2 hr, 53.27% at 3 hr, 71.11% at 4 hr and 71.53% at 5 hr. In the same way, the percentage removal of Mg metal increased with contact time as 16.00% at 1 hr, 32.84% at 2 hr, 48.00% at 3 hr, 61.00% at 4 hr and 57.00% at 5 hr. Thus, cactus powder has the capability to remove Ca and Mg metal ions from hard water due to the accessibility of its active sites.

An Investigation on Effectiveness of Grafted Potato Starch as an Adsorbent for Hard Water Treatment

“…Hard water is water that contains carbonates/bicarbonates, chlorides, sulphate of calcium, and magnesium ions. e presence of divalent cations (Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ ) in water can react with soap anions and lower the cleaning efficiency and leads to higher consumption of detergents due to the formation of calcium stearate which is insoluble [1,2]. Bathing with soap in hard water leaves a film of sticky soap curd on the skin, but also skin washed with hard water can become itchy and dry [3].…”

“…Many researchers have studied various adsorbents which are relatively inexpensive with higher efficiency of reducing hardness ions. ese adsorbents are Moringa oleifera [12], cactus (Opuntia spp) [2], and cashew nutshell activated carbon [11], pumice stone adsorbent [13], coalesced and uncoalesced adsorbents [14], polyacrylic acid [15], activated Phyllanthus emblica wood powder adsorbent [1], and modified chitosan [16]. e grafted potato starch has not yet been used for the adsorption process.…”