SYNERGISTIC EFFECTS OF MORINGA OLEIFERA SEED CAKE EXTRACT AND CACTUS MUCILAGE IN SURFACE WATER TREATMENT
Authors: Muhammad J.A, *Abraham T, Aderemi B.O
DOI Info: N/A
ABSTRACT
This research investigated the synergistic effects of Moringa oleifera seed cake extract and Opuntia stricta (cactus) mucilage in surface water treatment. The flocculation/coagulation experiments were conducted using a standard jar test apparatus and the properties of the raw and treated waters i.e. turbidity, pH, conductivity, total dissolved solids (TDS) and bacteria count were monitored using appropriate portable meters according to standard methods. For a raw surface water with turbidity of 44 NTU, the optimum doses of Moringa oleifera and Opuntia stricta mucilage were found to be 3 mg/L and 2 mg/L corresponding to 88.6%, and 42.7% reduction in the surface water turbidity respectively when used individually, while a blend of cactus mucilage and Moringa oleifera extracts in the ratio of 40:60 gave turbidity reduction of 86.1%. The blend showed superior ability in terms of bacterial count reduction (82 cells to 2 cells per 100 ml of treated water) when compared to the individual capabilities of 7 cells and 4 cells for Moringa oleifera and cactus mucilage respectively. The shelf life of the water treated with Moringa oleifera, Opuntia stricta mucillage and the blend were 3 days, 3 days and 5 days respectively. The physiochemical properties of the treated water such as conductivity, pH and TDS were found to depend on the chemical composition of the biocoagulants i.e. Moringa oleifera seed cake extract contained 0.700% of K, 0.020% of Na, 0.114% of Ca and 0.074% of Mg while Opuntia stricta (cactus) mucilage contained 0.350% of K, 0.180% of Na, 1.522% of Ca and 0.083% of Mg.
Affiliations: Department of Chemical Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria Kaduna, Nigeria
Keywords: Moringa Oleifera, Cactus Mucilage, Bacteria, Turbidity, Shelf Life
Published date: 2016/12/30
