Kajian potensi biji kelor (Moringa oleifera) sebagai koagulan

Abstract

Adequate access to drinking water is still a huge problem for several countries. One of the reason is the high cost for water’s chemical treatment. Hence, there is a need for low cost and locally available materials. One of the natural coagulants that can be used as an alternative for synthetic chemicals is a seed of Moringa oleifera. In this research, by using the jar test method, the optimum coagulation condition of M. oleifera seed was obtained at pH 6 with concentration of 50 mg/L and settling time of 60 minutes. The optimum condition of M.oleifera unskinned seeds as a coagulant was at pH 7 with concentration of 80 mg/L and settling time of 60 minutes. Previously, optimum coagulation conditions for aluminium chlorohydrate (ACH) has been obtained at pH 7, 10 mg/L, and 10 minutes, respectively. The optimum conditions of each coagulant gave different responses in turbidity, iron and manganese contents decrease. The average values of turbidity reduction with M. oleifera seed, unskinned seed, and ACH were 99.10, 99.07, and 99.71% respectively. The average values of iron reduction for those coagulants were 98.30, 98.45, and 9.,98%, whereas the average values of manganese reduction were 77.87, 81.08, and 78.65%, respectively. Repeatability showed as relative standard deviations on the coagulation process using three types of coagulant on the measurement of three parameters above were below 10%.