Natural coagulation performance for turbidity and iron removal from water using plant seeds

Document Type : Research articles

Authors

1 Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering at Shoubra, Benha University, Cairo, Egypt.

2 Sanitary and Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering Department, Institute of Aviation Engineering and Technology, Giza 12658, Egypt

Abstract

Access to clean and safe drinking water remains a critical challenge in many parts of the world, particularly in regions with limited resources and infrastructure. This research conducted a series of laboratory experiments to evaluate the coagulation performance of plant seeds treating Nile River water compared with chemical coagulants as Aluminum Sulphate. Also, the natural coagulants are examined to evaluate the adsorption process of free iron ions from groundwater using plant seeds. Moringa Oleifera and date seeds as natural coagulants achieved high efficiency for removing turbidity from Nile River water with a dosage of 150 and 60 mg/l, respectively, whereas date seeds as bio-sorbent coagulant approved after sedimentation and filtration stages about 65.7% and 87.25%, respectively for iron removal from groundwater with a dosage of 60 mg/l. In addition, life cycle assessment was studied to evaluate the damages to human health and ecosystem quality caused by carcinogenic substances, respiratory effects by inorganic substances, ecotoxic emissions, eutrophication, acidification and climate change effect due to natural coagulation compared with chemical coagulation. Furthermore, a cost analysis was studied to determine the economic cost of different plant seeds compared with chemical coagulant used for water purification. The cost-benefit value of coagulation using alum, Moringa Oleifera seeds and date seeds were estimated as 0.002, 0.01 and 0.0003 LE/%, respectively.

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