Process Biochemistry 35 (1999) 391 395

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A preliminary evaluation of turbidity removal by natural

coagulants indigenous to Venezuela
A. Diaz a, N. Rincon a, A. Escorihuela a, N. Fernandez a, E. Chacin a, C.F. Forster b,*
a
School of Ci6il Engineering, Uni6ersity of Zulia, PO Box 526, Maracaibo, Venezuela
b
School of Ci6il Engineering, Birmingham Uni6ersity, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK

Received 20 April 1999; received in revised form 19 May 1999; accepted 12 June 1999

Abstract

The ability of two plant materials, Cactus latifaria and the seeds of Prosopis juliflora, to act as natural coagulants was tested
using a synthetic water formulated to resemble the drinking water supplied to the city of Maracaibo. Turbidity was added as
kaolin. The coagulation ability of the two materials was assessed by the use of standard jar test measurements. Both materials
produced comparable turbidity removals and were able to produce a final water whose turbidity was close to the required
standard of 5NTU with both high (100200 NTU) and low (30 40 NTU) initial turbidities. This was comparable with the
performance achieved by previous workers using Moringa oleifera extracts. The optimum coagulant dose was found to be lower
than that for aluminium sulphate. Treatment of the raw vegetable solids with solvents produced coagulants which, in some cases,
were different from the raw materials and suggested that non-polar material might be involved with the coagulation process.
1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Natural coagulants; Cactus latifaria; Prosopis juliflora; Turbidity removal

1. Introduction studies have shown that a crude water extract compares

The production of potable water from most raw
water sources usually entails the use of a flocculation/
coagulation stage to remove turbidity in the form of
suspended and colloidal material. Aluminium and iron
salts are the chemicals most commonly used together
with synthetic organic polymers. With aluminium salts,
there is always the concern about residuals in the
treated water [1] and Alzeimers disease and, whilst iron
salts are a cheaper option, the cost of any imported
chemicals can be a serious problem for developing
countries. Thus, in recent years, there has been consid-
erable interest in the development of natural
coagulants.
Aqueous extracts of the dry seeds of Moringa oleifera
are one such product and much attention has been paid
to ways in which these extracts can be used [2,3]. These
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +44-121-4145049; fax: + 44-121-
4143675.
E-mail address: c.f.forster@bham.ac.uk (C.F. Forster)
quite favourably with alum and, as such, its use has
been recommended for use as a water treatment agent
in developing countries [4,5]. Similar studies have been
carried out with other vegetable materials. These in-
clude extracts of Okra and Nirmali seeds [6], and
Tamarind [7].
Two plants, which are indigenous to Venezuela,
which are common in Venezuela and which have prop-
erties similar to those described previously for natural
coagulants, were chosen for testing. These were the
mesquite bean (Prosopis juliflora) and Cactus latifaria.
The properties of the mesquite bean and some of its
components have been examined for a number of rea-
sons other than coagulation. A protein concentrate
made from the bean has been considered as a food
ingredient [8] and mesquite gum has been evaluated as
an alternative to Acacia and Tragacanth gums as a
binder in tablet formation [9]. Because of its ready
availability in Venezuela, it seemed reasonable to assess
its potential as a coagulant. This paper reports the
results of a preliminary study using crude preparations

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392 A. Diaz et al. / Process Biochemistry 35 (1999) 391395

Table 1
Extraction procedures

Extraction Volumes used (ml)

Methanol 410
Ethyl acetate 310
Petroleum ether 210

of Prosopis juliflora and Cactus latifaria as coagulating

agents.

2. Materials and methods

Prosopis juliflora pods were collected in the city of

Maracaibo and the Cactus latifaria was collected from
the Canada Urdaneta District. Both materials were
processed at the University of Zulia. They were washed
and dried at 80C. The resultant solids were milled
(ThomasWiley, Model 4) and sieved to give a fraction
of 6001300 mm. These were then used as a raw
coagulant by suspending them in water (5% w/v).
The milled solids were also treated by solvent extrac-
tion (Table 1). Methanol was used to remove polar
substances, petroleum ether (45 50C) was used to
remove non-polar lipids and ethyl acetate to remove
substances with an intermediate polarity. In all cases,
the solids and solvents were contacted for 5 min with
gentle agitation and the solids were then removed by
centrifugation (5 min; 270 g). The solids were dried at
room temperature for 24 h after each extraction. The
treated solids were then used to prepare 5% (w/v)
suspensions.
A synthetic water was prepared so that its composi-
tion was similar to that of the water supplied to the city
of Maracaibo (Table 2). A stock suspension of kaolin
with a concentration of 2 g/l was used to provide
turbidity in the range of 20 to 200 NTU. This range
was chosen so that the results could be compared with
data from previous studies using Moringa oleifera
[4,10].
A standard jar test apparatus (Phipps and Bird,
Model 300) was used in the coagulation tests. Samples
of the synthetic water (1 l) were stirred at 80 rpm for 2
min and during this time the coagulants were added
Fig. 1. Effect of altering the dosage of the raw Cactus latifaria
coagulant with initial turbidities of 50 NTU ("), 80 ( ) and 100
NTU ().
from a pipette to give the required dose. The stirring
speed was then lowered to 30 rpm for 30 min after
which the samples were allowed to stand for 20 min.
The turbidity of the supernatant liquors was then mea-
sured using a turbidometer (Orbeco Analytical Systems,
Model 965-10). Replicate measurements showed that
the standard deviation of the results was9 15%. Alu-
minium sulphate was also tested. This gave control data
against which the performances of the vegetable materi-
als could be assessed.
3. Results and discussion
The effect of altering the dosage of the raw Cactus
latifaria coagulant is shown in Fig. 1 for waters with
three different initial turbidities, 50, 80 and 100 NTU.
In each case, a dose of 1020 mg/l was optimum with
the final turbidity being less than or equal to 10 NTU.
Fig. 2 presents the data for the effect of the raw

Table 2
Composition of the synthetic water

Component Concentration (mg/l)

KCl 32.85
NaHCO3 125.70
MgCl6H2O 40.00
CaCO3 75.70
pH 7.0 Fig. 2. Effect of altering the dosage of the raw Prosopis juliflora
coagulant (initial turbidity =30 NTU).
 A. Diaz et al. / Process Biochemistry 35 (1999) 391395 393

Fig. 3. A comparison of the turbidity removal by organic coagulants

(data for Moringa oleifera from 4).

Prosopis juliflora coagulant on a water with an initial

turbidity of 30 NTU which was typical for the perfor- Fig. 4. A comparison of the performances of aluminium sulphate (")
and Cactus latifaria ( ).
mance of this coagulant. Again the final turbidity was
low, less than 5 NTU which is the standard for drink-
ing water, and the optimum dose was 20 40 mg/l. Both an alkalinity of 53 mg/l CaCO3 and showed that the
these coagulants gave a high removal of the initial addition of a range of different cations had little effect
turbidity and, as such, can be considered as potentially on the final turbidity of the treated water. However,
useful candidates for further examination. However, they did show that the addition of different anions had
they do need to be measured against the yardstick of a slight effect on the final turbidity. The alkalinity of
other natural coagulants which have been evaluated raw waters will vary and, therefore, the effect of the
previously. The material which has received the greatest Prosopis juliflora coagulant was tested on waters with
degree of attention is the aqueous extract of Moringa an initial turbidity of 200 NTU but with a range of
oleifera seeds. Muyibi and Okuofu [10] used it to treat alkalinity values (Fig. 5). This showed that the final
waters with turbidities of 23 90 NTU obtained from turbidity did increase slightly as the alkalinity of the
three surface water sources in Nigeria. They found that, water increased, although it was not possible to deter-
on average, a 50% removal of turbidity could be ob- mine from the published data whether the two increases
tained when the Moringa oleifera extract was used as were comparable. Earlier work with Moringa oleifera
the primary coagulant. The optimum dose for coagula- has suggested that the presence of ions is necessary for
tion with an extract using only the seeds of Moringa coagulation to occur [4]. This work also indicated that
oleifera has been shown to be comparable to that of there were some ion concentrations which resulted in
alum, 50 mg/l [5]. Ndabigengesere and Narasiah also
worked with an aqueous extract of Moringa oleifera
seeds but they used a synthetic water with the turbidity
(105 NTU) added as kaolin [4]. The results of their
study are shown in Fig. 3, together with the data from
this current study. This comparison demonstrates that
the three materials are very similar in their performance
and that the Prosopis juliflora and Cactus latifaria solids
are worth further evaluation. This is confirmed by the
results in Fig. 4 which shows a typical set of data for
aluminium sulphate and one of the vegetable coagu-
lants, Cactus latifaria. The final, plateau turbidity val-
ues were very similar although the dose of aluminium
sulphate which was required to achieve this was greater
than that of the Cactus latifaria coagulant. This is
comparable with previous work with extracts of Okra
which found that the natural coagulant gave a better
performance than alum [6]. Fig. 5. The effect of alkalinity on the final turbidity (initial turbidity
The work which was reported by Ndabigengesere (initial turbidity =200 NTU) using doses of Prosopis juliflora of the
and Narasiah [4] was based on a synthetic water with 20 mg/l (") and 40 mg/l ( ).
394 A. Diaz et al. / Process Biochemistry 35 (1999) 391395

Table 3
Composition of Prosopis juliflora and Cactus latifaria

Parameter Prosopis juliflora (% Cactus latifaria

DW) [11] (%DW) [12]

Seed Pods

Grease 2.1 2.8 8.0

Protein 35.0 10.1 11.6
Fibre 6.6 27.5 13.8
Ash 5.7 3.7 20.2

is shown in Fig. 7. The effect of using the solids which

had been treated with ethyl alcohol and with methanol
was not really any different from the effect achieved
with the raw, untreated solids. However, the data for
the petroleum ether treated solids were significantly
different, with only a small percentage of turbidity
removal being achieved. This implies that there is a
Fig. 6. The effect of pH on the final turbidity using doses of Prosopis non-polar component which has a significant role in the
juliflora of 20 mg/l (") and 80 mg/l ( ) (initial turbidity =200 coagulation process. A comparable set of data for the
NTU). Data for Moringa oleifera () from [4].
Prosopis juliflora solids is given in Fig. 8 and shows a
distinctly different pattern of behaviour. The solids
there being a less efficient removal of turbidity. How-
which had been treated with methanol gave a turbidity
ever, the coagulant dose was fixed and there was no
removal which was not significantly different from that
information about how variations in the coagulant
achieved with the untreated solids. The solids which
dose:ionic concentration ratio might affect the final
had been treated with petroleum ether gave a removal
turbidity. Obviously the role of ions will need further
which was slightly worse than that achieved with the
investigation.
untreated solids, again implying that a non-polar com-
Conventional inorganic coagulants are used within
ponent is involved in the coagulation process. In all
specific pH ranges and their addition to aqueous sus-
these three cases, the turbidity/coagulant dose curves
pensions can affect the pH. Earlier work has shown were typical of those described for coagulant sorption
that the use of Moringa oleifera does not cause alter- and charge neutralisation [13,14]. However, the data for
ation in pH [5] and that there is no easily recognisable
pH optimum [4]. Fig. 6 shows the effect of pH changes
on the behaviour of Prosopis juliflora and compares the
data with the results previously reported for Moringa
oleifera. Whilst it is clear that pH changes do alter the
final turbidity, in terms of the overall removal, the
changes are not appreciable and suggest that there is no
reason to consider using Prosopis juliflora at a pH other
than neutral.
The general similarities in performance between
Moringa oleifera and the two coagulants being evalu-
ated in the current study are sufficient to suggest that
their modes of action might be similar. It has been
shown that the active agent in Moringa oleifera extracts
are dimeric cationic proteins [5]. Both Prosopis juliflora
and Cactus latifaria contain protein in varying amounts
(Table 3) and the protein from Prosopis juliflora has
been considered previously as a potential food ingredi-
ent [7]. The supposition that the modes of action might
be similar does not, therefore, appear too improbable.
Fig. 7. A comparison of the effect of untreated Cactus latifaria
Solvents were used to extract components from the coagulant () and solids subjected to the solvent extraction using
Cactus latifaria solids and the effect of these extractions ethyl acetate ( ), petroleum ether () and methanol (") (initial
on the removal of turbidity (initial turbidity =50 NTU) turbidity=50 NTU).
 A. Diaz et al. / Process Biochemistry 35 (1999) 391395
Fig. 8. A comparison of the effect of untreated Prosopis juliflora
coagulant () and solids subjected to solvent extraction using ethyl
acetate ( ), petroleum ether () and methanol (") and methanol
(") (initial turbidity = 50 NTU).
the ethyl acetate treated solids were typical of the
condition where there was a degree of charge reversal.
Since the concentrations of kaolin and coagulant were
the same in all the cases described in Fig. 8, this
suggests that the ethyl acetate treated solids had a
slightly higher positive charge than the raw solids.
Taken overall, the results show that the solvent-treated
materials, which would incur a greater preparation
cost, do not offer any advantage over the raw coagu-
lants.
4. Conclusions
The results show that:
Cactus latifaria and the seeds of Prosopis juliflora
have the potential for use as water treatment
coagulants.
395
Their optimum dose was 10 mg/l which is compara-
ble with that achieved by extracts produced from
Moringa oleifera.
This performance meant that they could be used at
lower doses than aluminium sulphate.
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