Combination of alum and extracted Moringa oleifera bioactive molecules powder for municipal wastewater treatment

Abstract

Most of wastewater treatment stations use aluminum sulfate (Al₂(SO₄)₃, 18H₂O) and ferric sulfate (Fe₂(SO₄)₃) despite their relatively high cost. High turbidity of wastewater constitutes also a limit for a good treatment and increases the cost of the treatment. Moringa oleifera (MO) seeds are well known to have the ability to reduce turbidity and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) of wastewater. Moreover, most of the studies focus on using seeds directly for that purpose increasing consequently organic matter content. One of the major objectives of this study is to proposes a contribution for municipal wastewater treatment using crude MO extracted protein powder (MOEP) for the first time for industrial applications. NaCl extraction of MO defatted seeds bioactive molecule is first performed with a yield of 34% and the protein precipitated with ammonium sulfate 60% (m/v) and dried for coagulation as classical protein precipitation. Parameters affecting the effectiveness of MO bioactive protein in wastewater treatment permits to operate at ambient temperature and a range of pH from 6 to 9. The proposed process uses alum and MO bioactive protein molecules powder as coagulant and as additive for classical municipal wastewater treatment. Within a ratio of 50:50 (w/w), more than 90% of the turbidity and 75% of COD. The results obtained with kaolin suspensions showed that MOEP is more efficient for higher turbid wastewater.

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Keywords: Moringa oleifera, coagulant, aluminum sulfate, precipitation