Assessment of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea) as a natural coagulant for water treatment

Natural coagulants can be an alternative solution to minimise the environmental pollution and health risks caused by the use of chemical coagulants. The main objective of this research was to evaluate the performance of groundnut extract for turbidity removal from water. For this, the active coagulant agents were extracted from the deshelled nuts and used in a series of water treatment tests performed at low, medium, and high turbidity levels using synthetic turbid water. The groundnut extract showed good coagulative abilities, close to those of Al-2(SO4)(3). The best performance was obtained at a medium turbidity (150 NTU), where the extract removed 89% of the turbidity using a 500 mg/l dosage. However, it was not as efficient as Al-2(SO4)(3), whose coagulation was better at every turbidity level. The use of the groundnut extract does not modify the water's pH significantly and the floc size decreases as turbidity increases, although they are bigger than those produced by Al-2(SO4)(3). Its flocculation and sedimentation processes are also quick (each less than 10 min) and quicker than those with Al-2(SO4)(3). Hence, the groundnut extract is a viable alternative to chemical coagulants.