Sustainable bio-coagulant from moringa oleifera seed extract for water treatment application

Abstract

This study focused on producing a natural bio-coagulant from moringa seeds. Moringa seed extract is a natural coagulants for the treatment of water containing suspended solids and colloids and is obtained through grinding, oil extraction, protein extraction from the solids using 2M NaCl solution, protein separation by centrifugation followed by filtration. This study investigated production and use of bio-coagulant. Parameters investigated when producing the bio-coagulant include effect of temperature on the removal of moisture content in the moringa seeds, effect of the type of solvent on the oil yield and effect of varying the volume of n-hexane for oil extraction. Parameters investigated when using the bio-coagulant include effect of dosage of bio-coagulant on pH and turbidity removal efficiency, and the performance of the bio-coagulant at low, medium and high turbidity levels. The optimum temperature obtained by drying the moringa seeds was at 100 oC and the highest oil yield obtained was 31 % when using n-hexane as the solvent. Turbidity removal efficiency went up to 96 % when using 40 mg/L of the bio-coagulant at a pH of 6.1. High turbidity removal was achieved at low bio-coagulant dosages which was regarded as a breakthrough finding for this research.