MORINGA OLEIFERA (MO) SEEDS AS A RENEWABLE DEWATERING AID IN ELECTRO FORCED SEDIMENTATION (EFS)

Moringa oleifera (MO), a readily available and sustainable plant, holds a promising alternative to traditional chemical coagulants. The bioactive compounds present in the MO seeds such as cationic proteins and polysaccharides, can improve sludge settling efficiency and solid-liquid separation. The potential of utilizing MO seed-based coagulant as a renewable dewatering agent in electroforced sedimentation (EFS) process is investigated in this paper. The sedimentation rates between MO seed coagulant and the commonly employed chemical dewatering aid, polyacrylamide, PAC have been observed. The findings reveal that MO seed coagulant introduction into the slurry containing 7.5 mm and 9 mm initial solid concentration (expressed as total solid volume per unit cross-sectional area), results in a notably faster settling of sediment compared to PAC. This suggests that the effective application of MO seed coagulant as a dewatering aid in EFS depends on specific initial solid concentrations of the sludge under experiment.