Use of coagulant extracted from Moringa oleifera seed as auxiliary in water treatment by multistage filtration system

Author(s)

Monalisa Franco

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Faculdade de Engenharia Agrícola
• Defense date: 2010-08-19

Examining board members

José Euclides Stipp Paterniani; Ricardo de Lima Isaac; Denis Miguel Roston

• Advisor: José Euclides Stipp Paterniani

Abstract

Water is the most important resource for human survival. In communities where the conventional water treatment faces difficult deployment is necessary to search for simple technologies. Simple maintenance and low cost are presented for slow sand filter, however the water degradation has limited this operation system and now pre treatments are necessary for using this technology. Natural coagulants and among them those produced from Moringa oleifera seeds are alternatives for water treatment in regions where there is not conventional technologys. Therefore, this study aims is evaluate the influence of different dosages of natural coagulant extracted from Moringa oleifera seeds on multistage filtration system. The system was composed with dynamic roughing filter, uplflow roughing filters, slow sand filters and some tests by granular flocculator. The dosage of 131mg.L-1 of Moringa oleifera solution was defined to be applied on upflow roughing filter and the dosages of 106mg.L-1 and 53mg.L-1 on slow sand filter, which could pass through flocculator or not. The slow sand filter that received the coagulant solution was tested with three layers of nonwoven blankets with 400g/m² and afterward with one layer of nonwoven blanket with 150g/m² at the top of the sand. After the application of natural coagulant solution in upflow roughing filter, the mediums values of turbidity and apparent color were 11NTU and 73mg.L-1 PtCo, respectively. In slow sand filtration stage these values were 1,15NTU and 11mg.L-1PtCo for the dosage of 106mg.L-1 of Moringa oleifera, and 5NTU and 42mg.L-1PtCo for the dosage of 53mg.L-1 of the coagulant solution. The application of a single layer of nonwoven blanket on top of slow sand filter proved to be beneficial to the system because it maintained a high rate of removal efficiency of turbidity and apparent color. Thus it is concluded that the use of coagulant extracted from Moringa oleifera seeds improved the efficiency of water treatment by multistage filtration system. However, the direct application of the coagulant solution into the slow sand filter caused rapid clogging of the blanket and shorter career length. Furthermore, unsatisfying results was showed from the passage of the coagulant solution by granular flocculator (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 07/57675-9 - Use of coagulant extracted from Moringa oleifera seed as auxiliary in water treatment by multistage filtration system
• Grantee: Monalisa Franco
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master