Parametric study of novel plant-based seed coagulant in modeled wastewater turbidity removal.

Abstract

Chemical coagulants like alum, ferric salts, and polyacrylamide derivatives are helpful in water treatment. However, the long-term detrimental effects of chemical coagulants on humans and the environment require alternative research for natural coagulants. This study used novel leguminous (green beans (GB), pigeon pea (PP)), fruit seeds (Tamarind indica (TI), and date palm (DS)) as coagulants to remove turbidity. The seeds were powdered, and the crude active coagulants were extracted with distilled water and a 1 M NaCl solution. The result showed that PP's distilled water extract had the highest turbidity removal of 81.12%, while DS had the least performance of 62.54%. The NaCl extract of PP had the highest removal (94.62%), followed by TI (76.08%). This study found the optimum doses for GB, TI, PP, and DS to be 50, 40, 10, and 70 mL/L, with their optimum pH at 3, 1, 3, and 1, respectively. The FTIR spectra confirmed the existence of -OH, -NH, COOH, C = O, C-C, and C-H peaks, indicating the presence of protein-specific functional groups supporting their potential use as coagulants. Therefore, PP would have been used based on turbidity performance; however, due to their nutritional value, TI and DS are suitable seeds for the coagulation-flocculation treatment of turbid water because they are waste materials.