Use of moringa oleifera seed as an organic coagulant in the treatment of water for human consumption

Abstract

The present article, shows the results of moringa seed powder evaluation as an organic coagulant to remove turbidity from water destined for human consumption. In order to reach the objective of the study, turbidity was artificially induced through kaolin clay, obtaining different turbidity in a range of 0 to 500 NTU, and also the optimum dosage of aluminum sulfate and moringa seed was determined by 15 jars tests. Subsequently, 25 jars tests were made at different turbidity using the identified optimum dosage, maintaining a control sample in each test, determining the percentage of removal at 15, 30 and 60 minutes of sedimentation. When evaluating the results using the moringa seed powder coagulant, a real average removal percentage of turbidity of 23% was obtained with a sedimentation time of 15 minutes. According to the results, it is concluded that it is technically not feasible to use moringa seed powder as an organic coagulant at the household level and as an alternative for aluminum sulfate, according to the methodology used, because the residual value of turbidity, after at least one hour of sedimentation, is not sufficient to comply with the Guatemalan standard COGUANOR NTG 29001.