Coagulante Ecológico en el tratamiento de la Turbidez del agua del Río Mashcón

Abstract

This study evaluated the efficacy of Opuntia ficusindica extract as a coagulant in the removal of turbidity from the Mashcón river water, which had an initial turbidity of 130 NTU. It was investigated how both retention time and coagulant dosage influenced the results. At a 40-minute retention time, removal ranged from 7.0% to 89.7%, with coagulant dosages from 15 to 70 g/L. However, efficacy improved by increasing the time to 80 minutes, achieving removals of up to 84.1% for 30 g/L, reducing turbidity to as low as 20.70 NTU. A retention time greater than 120 minutes did not show significant improvements, suggesting a saturation point beyond which extra time does not improve removal. It is crucial to emphasize that tests were carried out in triplicate for each dosage and retention time, which gives robustness to the results. This study underlines the importance of optimizing both the coagulant dose and the retention time to achieve the best results in turbidity removal. In conclusion, the optimal combination for turbidity removal is a retention time of 80 minutes and a coagulant dose of 30 g/L, highlighting the efficacy of the Opuntia ficus-indica extract as a potent coagulant in improving water quality.