Surface water treatment using Tamarind seed as coagulants via coagulation process

Abstract

The potential of natural coagulants are highly sought nowadays as the use of commercial coagulants, aluminum sulfate (alum) affect the environment negatively. An alternative coagulant is needed. In this study, the effectiveness of natural coagulant, the tamarind seed extract is being evaluated as a coagulant to measure the highest percentage removal of turbidity and chemical oxygen demand (COD) in the surface water. The surface water sample taken from the Sungai Perlis located in Kangar, Perlis. The sample were analysed using Jar Test Experimental works with rapid mixing speed of 120 rpm in 1 minutes, slow mixing speed of 30 rpm in 20 minutes and settling time of 1 hour. The tamarind seed is being extracted using distilled water and 1 M of sodium chloride (NaCI). Seed extract from distilled water effectively removes 99.2% of turbidity and 77.2% of COD with optimum coagulant dosage of 30 mg/L and optimal pH 5.0. While, the seed extracts from 1 M of NaCI can remove 99.4% of turbidity and 73.8% of COD with the optimum coagulant dosage of 30 mg/L and optimal pH 3.0. The one factor at time (OFAT) analysis and variance of analysis (ANOVA) was used to determine the optimum cogulant dosage and pH. Hence, this study demonstrates the potentials of the seed extract of tamarind seeds using distilled water in treating the surface water.