Adane Gebeyehu
National Agricultural Biotechnology Research Center, Ethiopia
Title: Effectiveness of Moringa oleifera, Aloe debrana, and Carica papaya seed powder extracts for drinking water purification
Biography
Biography: Adane Gebeyehu
Abstract
Currently, many peoples are dying because of unsafe drinking water and water related diseases in Ethiopia. Nearly 87% of those who die as a result of acute vomiting and diarrhea are women’s, children under the age of 5 and economically disadvantaged communities. Therefore, the purpose of this laboratory research was to address drinking water quality problems through using seed powder extracts of Moringa oleifera, Aloe debrana, and Carica papaya that are cheap, easy to prepare and use as well as effective for drinking water purification than using the synthetic Poly Aluminum Chloride (PAC) that have health risks and costly to be afforded at family basis. In the laboratory study, water samples were treated with powder extracts produced from the Moringa oleifera, Aloe debrana, and Carica papaya seeds at concentrations of 25mg/l, 50mg/l, 75mg/l, 100mg/l and 125mg/l for all three plant types. Then highly turbid and untreated pathogenic surface water samples were analyzed for different physiochemical parameters such as pH, turbidity, alkalinity, most probable number (MPN) and SPC. The optimum dosages for Moringa oleifera seed powder extracts were found to be 100mg/l whereas 50 mg/l for Aloe debrana and 125 mg/l for Carica papaya seed powder extracts. Moringa oleifera seed powder extracts had the highest turbidity removal efficiency with a percentage turbidity removal of 91.8% followed by Aloe debrana powder extracts with a percentage turbidity removal of 85.7% and Carica papaya with a percentage turbidity removal of 80.6% at its optimal dosage of each powder extract types. Optimum pH range was found to be between 6.0 and 6.8, with the optimum operating temperature of about 24°C. Efficient reduction (99.5%) of bacterial load was obtained by the application of this low-cost Moringa oleifera seed powder extracts at a dose of 100mg/l followed by Aloe debrana (90.0%) seed powder extracts at a dose of 50mg/l. The results of this study recommended Moringa oleifera seed powder extracts to treat highly turbid and microbiologically contaminated drinking water.