COMPARATIVE STUDIES OF CRUDE AND DEFATTED MORINGA OLEIFERA SEEDS AS NATURAL COAGULANTS IN REMOVAL OF PHYSICAL, CHEMICAL AND BACTERIOLOGICAL PARAMETERS FROM TURBID RIVER WATER

Abstract

There is a great concern about commercial coagulants and their  residues in treated water which leads to Alzheimer disease in old people. For this reason, a lot of research is focused on plants wi th coagulating properties. A lot of interest is on  Moringa oleifera a plant with clarifying properties, this study was aimed  at investigating efficiency of crude and defatted  Moringa oleifera  seed in aiding removal of turbidity, chemical and bacteriological parameters from turbid Ndarugo river water. Conventional jar test apparatus was used in coagulation process. The optimum dosages was obtained at 175 mg/L and 150 mg/L which gave represented residual turbidity of 4.93±0.31 and 3.27±0.45 for crude  Moringa oleifera  seeds and defatted  Moringa oleifera  seeds respectively. Chemical and bacteriological parameters in treated water were reduced to below the levels recommended by NEMA and WHO. In conclusion, the study showed that defatted  Moringa oleiferaseed powder showed a good performance compared to crude  Moringa oleifera  seed powder. Therefore, it can be used as an alternative coagulant.