El Nopal (Opuntia ficus-indica) como coagulante natural complementario en la clarificación de agua
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Date
2015-08-03
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Corporación Universitaria Lasallista
Área Metropolitana del Valle de Aburrá
Área Metropolitana del Valle de Aburrá
Abstract
Introduction. Clarification is a process performed before purifying water, and consists in applying a coagulant
that groups the suspended particles and makes them flocculate. They are, then, separated by means of filtration.
Vegetables are being explored as a clean and inexpensive option to replace the primary coagulants, which are
inorganic compounds. Objective. Evaluate the efficiency of the mucilage extracted from the nopal (Opuntia
ficus-indica) as a natural coagulant that complements aluminum sulfate in the clarification of water from the
Magdalena river. Materials and methods. The clarification process was performed by the use of the jar test,
taking into account factors such as the concentration and the proportion of the coagulants, the pH and the
agitation speed, in order to evaluate the turbidity (NTU), the color (UPC), the total dissolved solids (mg/L),
the pH and the electric conductivity (μS/cm) in the water treated. Results. By applying a maximum quantity of
20 % of nopal mucilage in the proportion of coagulants and an agitation speed of 200 rpm, the turbidity of the
water can be reduced to values below 2 NTU, achieving efficiencies above 50 % in the removal of the turbidity.
The most effective efficiencies achieved are between 96-98 %. The color was totally reduced to zero UPC and
the STD content was reduced to values below 200 mg/L. The natural coagulant did not significantly affect the
pH of the water treated and the conductivity increased in some of the treatments, perhaps due to the primary
coagulant. Conclusion. The mucilage of nopal as a coagulant to complement the aluminum sulfate is effective
to clarify water.
Description
Keywords
Corporación Universitaria Lasallista, Área Metropolitana del Valle de Aburrá, Nopal (opuntia ficus-indica), Contaminación del agua, Agua potable, Tratamiento de aguas, Coagulación