A PRELIMINARY STUDY ON ABELMOSCHUS ESCULENTUS FRUIT MUCILAGE EXTRACT AS COAGULANT-FLOCCULENT FOR TURBID WATER TREATMENTVarsha Patale and Jay PandyaAbstract Lab scale experiments were conducted to investigate the efficiency of mucilage isolated from the fruits of Abelmoschus esculentus as flocculent for the treatment of turbid water samples containing synthetic turbidity of kaolin. Jar test experiments at optimum pH and time were carried out for 10, 25, 50, 75 and 100 (NTU) levels of turbidity in the flocculent dose range, of 0.1 mg, 0.2 mg, 0.4 mg, 0.8 mg, 1.2 mg, 1.6 mg and 2.0 mg/L. The flocculation efficiency of Abelmoschus esculentus fruit mucilage at different turbidity levels and the effects of flocculent dose on percent removal of turbidity are reported. At all the experimental turbidity levels, the increased flocculent dose increased the percentage of turbidity removal upto a certain level, beyond which further increase in dosage showed a decreasing trend in the removal. The optimum dose of the flocculent in the present study was found to be 0.4 mg/L. Abelmoschus esculentus mucilage has higher efficiency in removing high turbidity in comparison to low turbidity. Highest turbidity removal (96%) was obtained with very high i.e., 100 NTU initial turbidity. The mucilage of Abelmoschus esculentus fruit is an ecofriendly and low cost anionic polysaccharide.
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