Moringa oleifera seeds as natural coagulant for water treatment

Developing countries and third world countries are facing potable water supply problems because of inadequate financial resources. The cost of water treatment is increasing and the quality of river water is not stable due to suspended and colloidal particle load caused by land development and high storm runoff during the rainy seasons especially in a country like Malaysia. During the rainy seasons the turbidity level increases and the need for water treatment chemicals increase as well, which leads to high cost of treatment which the water treatment cannot sustain. As a result, the drinking water that reaches the consumer is not properly treated. Therefore, it is of great importance to find a natural alternative for water coagulant to treat the turbidity. It has been found that Moringa oleifera is the best natural coagulant discovered yet, that can replace aluminium sulphate (Alum) which is used widely all around the world. The study is focusing in Moringa oleifera seeds to find the active constituents which are responsible about the coagulation mechanism and improving the coagulation property. This will help in producing this alternative locally as Moringa oleifera is grown in Malaysia and other tropical countries and can be of great benefit for water treatment

Production of natural coagulant from Moringa oleifera seed for drinking water treatment

Water treatment industry worldwide including South East Asia IS facing high demand for synthetic coagulants for water treatment process. Research is continuously being done to find the best treatment methods and lower cost alternatives. Moringa oleifera seed could be a suitable natural alternative to synthetic coagulants. This paper investigates processing Moringa oleifera seed in order to concentrate the bio-active constituents which have coagulation activity. The proposed method to isolate and purify the bio-active constituents is the cross flow filtration method, which produced the natural coagulant with very cost effective processing technique (oil extraction; salt extraction; and microfiltratlon through 0.20 ~Im). Coagulation activity was determined using conventional jar test procedures, and the major water quality control parameters monitored was the residual turbidity for river water with low initial turbidity. Results showed residual turbidity of less than 5 NTU which is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). The turbidity removal was 94.82% for river water of low initial turbidity of 44.2 NTU, without any chemicals added. The microfiitration method is considered to be a practical method which needs no chemicals added. The product is commercially valuable and can contribute to the economic development of South East Asian countries

Production of natural coagulant from Moringa Oleifera Seed for application in treatment of low turbidity water

This study focused on developing an efficient and cost effective processing technique for Moringa oleifera seeds to produce natural coagulant for use in drinking water treatment. The produced natural coagulant can be used as an alternative to aluminum sulphate and other coagulants and used worldwide for water treatment. This study investigates processing Moringa oleifera seeds to concentrate the bio-active constituents which have coagulation activity. Moringa oleifera seeds were processed for oil extraction using electro thermal soxhlet. Isolation and purification of bio-active constituents using chromatography technique were used to determine the molecular weight of the bio-active constituents. The molecular weight of bio-active constitu-ents found to be in a low molecular weight range of between 1000 – 6500 Dalton. The proposed method to isolate and purify the bio-active constituents was the cross flow filtration method, which produced the natu-ral coagulant with very simple technique (oil extraction; salt extraction; and microfiltration through 0.45 μm). The turbidity removal was up to 96.23 % using 0.4 mg/L of processed Moringa oleifera seeds to treat low initial turbidity river water between 34-36 Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU) without any additives. The microfiltration method is considered to be a practical method which needs no chemicals to be added com-pared to other researchers proposed methods. The natural coagulant produced was used with low dosages to get high turbidity removal which considered to be a breakthrough in this study and recommended to be scaled up for industry level. The product is commercially valuable at the same time it is minimizing the cost of water treatment

Screening of Aspergillus for citric acid production from Palm Oil Mill Effluent

In this study, screening of potential microbes, especially Aspergillus, for citric acid production from Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) is carried out to improve the product yield. The fermentation of the raw material POME for the production of citric acid was conducted by the liquid state fermentation process. A total of ten strains of Aspergillus were selected for the screening test of which six strains were isolated from Sewage Treatment Plant Sludge (STP Sludge), purified and identified up to genus level and four strains of Aspergillus were from lab stock. All strains were screened under controlled fermentation conditions such as pH range of 2-3, temperature 30°C and agitation 150 rpm, using 1% (w/w) of substrate (POME), 2% (w/w) co-substrate (wheat flour) with inoculum size of 2% (106 spore mL 1). These strains were examined in terms of maximum citric acid production, biosolid production (TSS%) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) removal. The strain Aspergillus (A103) produced the highest concentration of citric acid (0.28 g L 1), TSS (12.7 g L 1) and COD removal (72%) followed by A1020, A-SS106 and others on 2-4 days of fermentation

Bioconversion process for microbial treatment of palm oil mill effluent to produce citric acid

Oil palm is a very important asset in the Malaysian economy. It is estimated that for 1 tonne of crude palm oil produced, 5-7.5 tonnes of water is required and more than 50% of water end up as Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME). The raw or partially treated POME has an extremely high content of degradable organic matter along with some unrecovered palm oil, which can cause severe pollution of waterways due to oxygen depletion and other related effects. On the other hand, efficient and effective methods of producing citric acid from different cheaper raw materials have been of great interest to many researchers, because of extensive use of this acid in various industrial processes. Demand for this particular metabolite is increasing day by day which requires a much more efficient fermentation process for higher product yield. When applied to appropriate mass balance, it is possible to predict the utilization of substrates and the yield of individual products. Fermentation media for citric acid biosynthesis should consist of substrates necessary for the growth of microorganism, primarily the carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus sources. In this line, POME is introduced as a cheaper raw material for citric acid production by microbial treatment with developed bioconversion process

Isolation and screening of potential microorganisms for citric acid production from sewage treatment plant sludge

The better utilization of sewage treatment (STP) sludge through value added products is being considered to be an alternative cost effective solution for waste management. The study emphasized on isolation of filamentous fungi especially Aspergillus from STP sludge for better adaptability. Liquid state fermentation process was used forthe production of citric acid. Six strains of Aspergillus niger (A-SS101, A-SS102, A-SS104, A-SS105, A-SS106 and A-SS-107) were isolated from STP sludge and identified using slide culture technique followed by image analysis. Four strains were screened under controlled fermentation conditions such as pH range of 2-3, temperature 30 degree celcius and agitation 150 rpm, using the substrate of STP sludge (1% of total suspended solids, TSS), 2% (w/v) co-substrate (wheat flour) with inoculum's size of 2% (10^8 spores/ml). Evaluation of fungal potentiality was done in terms of maximum citric acid production, biosolid production (TSS %) and removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD). Strain A-SS106 produced the highest concentration of citric acid (0.14 g/L), TSS (15.18 g/L) and COD removal (90.1%) followed by SC906, A-SS106, A1020 and A103 on fourth day of fermentation