Effect of crude and defatted Moringa oliefera seeds as natural coagulants in the removal of physical, chemical and bacteriological parameters from turbid river water

Abstract

There is a great concern about commercial coagulants and their residues in treated water which leads to Alzheimer disease in old people. For this reason, a lot of research is focused on plants with coagulating properties. A lot of interest is on Moringa oliefera as a plant with clarifying properties, this study was aimed at investigating efficiency of crude and defatted Moringa oliefera seed in aiding removal of turbidity, chemical and bacteriological parameters from turbid Ndarugo river water in comparison with alum. Conventional jar test apparatus was used in coagulation process. The optimum dosages was obtained at 50 mg/L, 175 mg/L and 150 mg/L which gave represented residual turbidity of 3.73±0.09, 4.93±0.31 and 3.27±0.45 for alum, crude Moringa oliefera seed powder and defatted Moringa oliefera seed powder respectively. Total coliforms were reduced to between 93.48% to 96.96% by all the coagulants; however E. coli was not detected in raw turbid water and clarified sample. In the study, it was observed that Moringa oliefera seed showed a good alternative as coagulants reducing water parameters to values below maximum permissible limits as stipulated by WHO.