South African Journal of Chemical Engineering (Jul 2023)
Investigation on surface water treatment using blended moringa oleifera seed and aloe vera plants as natural coagulants
Abstract
The implementation and careful adaptation of treatment plants is currently the most common method for enhancing water quality, especially for large-scale supplies. Nowadays, natural coagulants are used for water treatment due to their environmental friendliness. moringa oleifera and Aloe vera plants are the known natural coagulants used for water. The main goal of this study was to evaluate the removal efficiency of color, turbidity, TDS, COD, and phosphate from surface water by utilizing the blended powder of moringa oleifera seeds (MOS) and Aloe vera plants (AVP). In this study also, pH, stirring speed of the jar test, coagulant dosage, and settling time were also considered as influencing factors on the removal percentages. The blended powder of moringa oleifera (MOS) and Aloe vera plants (AVP) removed color (87.1%), turbidity (88.5%), TDS (92.1%), COD (52.6%), and phosphate (93.9%) at different operating parameters at optimum condition. Furthermore, experimental data were statistically and mathematically analyzed using a central composite design (CCD) from response surface methodology (RSM), revealing that the quadratic model was significant for COD and phosphate removal. The model was also valid for the COD and phosphate removal based on the coefficient of determination, but the quadratic model for the removal of color, turbidity, TDS, and COD was aliased such that it is not appropriate for further investigation.