Revolutionizing Water Treatment: Optimizing Moringa and Date Seed Extracts for Enhanced Alum Coagulation in Surface Water

Due to the increasing dependency on chemical coagulants in water treatment in Jordan, which carries environmental and health risks, this study seeks to enhance the coagulation process using eco-friendly alternative coagulants, specifically Moringa oleifera seeds (MOS), which is well-known as a natural coagulant, and Date SeedExtract (DSE), which has few studies in water turbidity reduction, in comparison to the conventional coagulant (Alum) and substituting that either wholly at different dosages or partly in ratios (70%, 50%, 30%). Utilizing response surface methodology (RSM), the study examines various factors influencing turbidity removal, including pH, coagulant type and dosage, and settling conditions. The findings indicate that combining natural coagulants with Alum enhances turbidity removal efficiency. A mixture of 30% Moringa and 70% Alum achieved a turbidity removal of 97.7%, outperforming MOS alone, which reached 94% at a 60-minute settling time. DSE, although showing a lower initial performance with 91.56% turbidity removal at optimal dosage, demonstrated significant improvement when combined with Alum. Specifically, a combination of 30% DSE and 70% Alum achieved 98% turbidity removal, while 50% DSE and 50% Alum reached 96.5% at 90 minutes. Additionally, the best results from the naturalcoagulants alone were observed with a combination of 70% MOS and 30% DSE, yielding a turbidity removal of 93.23%, followed by 50% MOS and 50% DSE at 92.57%. The study concludes that the strategic combination of natural and chemical coagulants not only enhances removal efficiency but also allows for a 30% reduction in chemical coagulant usage, thereby minimizing economic, operational, and environmental impacts.鉴于约旦水处理领域对化学混凝剂的依赖度日益攀升，且该做法存在环境与健康风险，本研究旨在采用环保型替代混凝剂优化混凝工艺。研究选用已作为天然混凝剂广为人知的辣木籽（Moringa oleifera seeds, MOS），以及在水体浊度去除方面研究较少的枣籽提取物（Date SeedExtract, DSE），并与传统混凝剂明矾（Alum）开展对比实验；替代方式包括以不同投加量完全替换明矾，或按70%、50%、30%的比例部分替换明矾。本研究采用响应面法（Response Surface Methodology, RSM），考察了影响浊度去除效果的多项关键因素，包括pH值、混凝剂种类与投加量，以及沉降条件。研究结果表明，将天然混凝剂与明矾复配可显著提升浊度去除效率。其中，30%辣木籽与70%明矾的复配体系浊度去除率可达97.7%，优于单独使用MOS的效果（沉降60分钟时浊度去除率为94%）。DSE单独使用时初始性能较低，最优投加量下浊度去除率为91.56%，但与明矾复配后性能大幅提升：具体而言，30% DSE与70%明矾的复配体系浊度去除率达98%，而50% DSE与50%明矾的复配体系在沉降90分钟时浊度去除率为96.5%。此外，仅使用天然混凝剂时的最优效果为70% MOS与30% DSE的复配，浊度去除率达93.23%，其次为50% MOS与50% DSE的复配，浊度去除率为92.57%。本研究最终得出结论：天然混凝剂与化学混凝剂的战略性复配，不仅可提升浊度去除效率，还能减少30%的化学混凝剂使用量，从而降低经济、运行与环境层面的负面影响。