Study on different parts of moringa oleifera for treating wastewater

Abstract

In this study Moringa Oleifera (MO) leaves and pods are utilized for the treatment of Methylene Blue (MB) dye solution. The uptake of pollutants by MO leaves and pods are assessed by varying dosages from 0.01g to 0.1g with different agitation time of 5min to 30 min. From the observed results, the maximum removal (96%) occurs by adding MO leaves at 0.08g dosage at the time period of 15minutes. MO pods removes maximum of 45% at the dosage of 0.1g at 30 minutes. It is found that MO leaves are better in removing organic dye than MO pods. The Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X Ray (EDX) analysis are carried out to identify the morphological character and elemental composition of the MO leaves and pods. The result shows that the leaves contain more carbon content (33%) than pods (20.3%). Similarly the amount of oxygen is least in leaves thus enhancing the removal of dye particles. The SEM result indicates that the pore development is more in leaves than pods. Finally, Isotherm model was developed for pods and leaves; it is found that MO pods follow Freundlich equation whereas MO leaves follow Langmuir equation.