Improvement of water treatment pilot plant withMoringa oleiferaextract as flocculant agent

Abstract

Moringa oleifera extract is a high‐capacity flocculant agent for turbidity removal in surface water treatment. A complete study of a pilot‐plant installation has been carried out. Because of flocculent sedimentability of treated water, a residual turbidity occured in the pilot plant (around 30 NTU), which could not be reduced just by a coagulation‐flocculation‐sedimentation process. Because of this limitation, the pilot plant (excluded filtration) achieved a turbidity removal up to 70%. A slow sand filter was put in as a complement to installation. A clogging process was characterized, according to Carman‐Kozeny’s hydraulic hypothesis. Kozeny’s k parameter was found to be 4.18. Through fouling stages, this k parameter was found to be up to 6.36. The obtained data are relevant for the design of a real filter in a continuous‐feeding pilot plant. Slow sand filtration is highly recommended owing to its low cost, easy‐handling and low maintenance, so it is a very good complement to Moringa water treatment in developing countries.