Turbidity removal using natural coagulants derived from the seeds of strychnos potatorum: statistical and experimental approach

Abstract

Abstract Providing sufficient quantity of drinking water to the inhabitants of poor countries and rural areas is one of the difficult challenges for water treatment authorities, where it was reported, by the World Health Organisation (WHO), that nowadays there are more than 800 million people in the poor countries and rural areas do not have sufficient quantity of drinking water, which subjected those people for outbreaks of different water-related diseases. Water companies therefore seek to provide affordable and reliable methods of treatment in order to solve this life-threatening issue. In this vein, the goal of the current study is to develop and analyse the effectiveness of affordable eco-friendly coagulants that derived from the seed of Strychnos potatorum. The applicability of this new type of coagulants for water treatment has been validated by treating turbid water sample, which was synthesized using kaolinites. The experimental work was also focused on optimising the effects of coagulants dosage; retention period and pH of water on turbidity removal by applying the Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The final results demonstrated that the new eco-friendly coagulants are suitable for water treatment as they removed about 93% of kaolinite turbidity when the unit was operated at natural pH (7) for 70.0 min with a dosage of the new coagulants of 40.0 mg.L−1.