Removal of Turbidity from the River Water using Tamarindusindica and Litchi chinensis Seeds as Natural Coagulant

Abstract

The present study was conducted to assess the efficacy of powder extracted from mature-dried Tamarindus indica and Litchi chinensis seeds for the turbidity reduction of polluted river water. Efficiency of Tamarindus indica and Litchi chinensis in removal of turbidity was compared with a synthetic coagulant Polyaluminiumchloride(PAC). The jar test experiment was performed to treat sample water using seed extracts along with PAC in laboratory condition. Polyacrylamide (PAM) was used as a model coagulant to aid the coagulation process. Water samples were analyzed before and after treatment with target coagulants. Tamarindus indica achieved maximum 91.16% turbidity reduction aided with0.5% PAM. Likewise, Litchi chinensis showed 91.82% turbidity reduction aided with 0.2% PAM, whereas PAC showed maximum 96.20% turbidity reduction aided with 0.5% PAM. The overall results revealed that both of the seed extract has impressive coagulation capacity in compare to the PAC. After treatment with natural seed extracts there was no significant changes in the other water quality parameters; pH, TDS, EC and COD. It can be stated that the present study will be a pathway to examine the kinetics of coagulation and mechanism of reactions by using natural seed extracts as coagulant.