The use of Moringa oleifera as a natural coagulant in surface water treatment

Camacho, Franciele Pereira; Sousa, Vania Serrao; Bergamasco, Rosangela; Teixeira, Margarida Ribau

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/13181

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Authors

Camacho, Franciele Pereira

Sousa, Vania Serrao

Bergamasco, Rosangela

Teixeira, Margarida Ribau

Abstract(s)

Moringa oleifera (MO) seed is a natural plant with active bio-coagulate compounds that can be used for water clarification since it reduces the use of chemical-based coagulants. This study aims to evaluate the impact of Moringa oleifera (MO) seeds and MO seeds with a reduced amount of oil as coagulants in conventional water treatment to remove cyanobacteria from different natural surface waters. Tests were performed for waters with low (5-10 NTU) and high (30-60 NTU) initial turbidity with and without Microcystis aeruginosa cells and for MO integral powder, MO oil-extracted with ethanol and with a pressurized technique, and MO extracted with NaCI. The results show that MO oil-extraction is not necessary when using MO seeds as a coagulant in coagulation/flocculation/sedimentation (CF/S). Chlorophyll a and turbidity removals were up to 85% for high-turbidity waters, with 50 mg.L-1 MO obtained, for MO integral powder and for all of the MO extraction methods used. Therefore, for these waters, integral powder (without any extraction) can be used. For low-turbidity waters and using a 1 M saline extraction of the active coagulant compound, chlorophyll a and turbidity removals were approximately 60%. It was also demonstrated that MO is capable of removing some of the organic matter present in water, namely, aromatic organic matter, between 40 and 50% when using MO extracted with NaCI. However, dissolved organic matter results showed an increase independent of the type of MO extraction used. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.