Malaysian Journal of Analytical Sciences Vol 20 No 2 (2016): 401 - 412

 

 

 

Moringa oleifera SEED DERIVATIVES AS POTENTIAL BIO-COAGULANT FOR MICROALGAE Chlorella Sp. HARVESTING

 

(Potensi Derivatif  Biji Moringa oleifera sebagai Bio-Pengental untuk Penuaian Mikroalga Chlorella sp.)

 

Azizah Endut^1,2*, Siti Hajar Abdul Hamid¹, Fathurrahman Lananan¹, Helena Khatoon³

 

¹East Coast Environmental Research Institute

²Faculty of Innovative Design and Technology

Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Gong Badak Campus, 21300 Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia

³School of Fishery Science and Aquaculture,

Unversiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia

 

*Corresponding author: enazizah@unisza.edu.my

 

 

Received: 14 April 2015; Accepted: 30 November 2015

 

 

Abstract

Microalgae is an economical and potential raw material of biomass energy, which offer a wide range of commercial potential to produce valuable substances for applications in aquaculture feed, pharmaceutical purposes and biofuels production. However, lack of an economical, efficient and convenient method to harvest microalgae is a bottleneck to boost their full-scale application.  Hence, this study was performed to investigate the potentialities of Moringa oleifera seed derivatives as an environmentally bio-coagulant to harvest microalgae Chlorella sp. biomass from the water column, which acts as a binder to coagulate particulate impurities to form larger aggregates. Results shown M. oleifera to have better biomass recovery of 122.51% as compared to 37.08% of alum at similar dosages of 10 mg·L^-1. In addition, it was found that the zeta potential values of mixed microalgae-coagulant suspension shows positive correlation on the flocculation parameters. For biomass recovery, the correlation for M. oleifera protein powder showed the R²-value of 0.9565 whereas the control chemical flocculant, alum with the R²-value of 0.7920. It was evidence that M. oleifera has a great potential in efficient and economical for environmentally microalgae harvesting and the adaptation of biological harvesting technology especially for the purpose of aquaculture feed in Malaysia.

 

Keywords: Chlorella sp., coagulation-flocculation, isoelectric point, Moringa oleifera, zeta potential

 

Abstrak

Mikroalga merupakan bahan mentah yang murah dan berpotensi untuk tenaga biojisim, yang menawarkan pelbagai peluang pengkomersialan untuk menghasilkan bahan bernilai untuk aplikasi dalam makanan akuakultur, farmaseutikal dan penghasilan bahan bakar bio. Walaubagaimanapun, kekurangan kaedah yang murah, cekap dan mudah untuk penuaian mikroalga merupakan halangan untuk meningkatkan aplikasi teknologi ini dalam skala yang lebih besar. Oleh itu, kajian ini telah dijalankan untuk menyiasat potensi derivatif biji Moringa oleifera sebagai bio-penggumpal biojisim mikroalga Chlorella sp., yang bertindak sebagai pengikat untuk menggumpalkan zarah enapcemar membentuk  agregat yang lebih besar dari kolum air. Keputusan menunjukkan M. oleifera mempunyai pemulihan biojisim yang lebih baik iaitu 122.51% berbanding alum iaitu 37.08% pada dos yang sama sebanyak 10 mg·L^-1. Di samping itu, nilai keupayaan zeta campuran mikroalga dan penggumpal menunjukkan kolerasi positif terhadap parameter penggumpalan. Dalam pemulihan biojisim, kolerasi bagi serbuk protein M. oleifera menunjukkan nilai R² iaitu 0.9565 manakala penggumpal kimia kawalan, alum mempunyai nilai R² iaitu 0.7920. Ini membuktikan bahawa M. oleifera mempunyai potensi tinggi untuk penuaian mikroalga yang berkecekapan tinggi dan murah serta penyesuaian teknologi penuaian biologi terutamanya untuk tujuan makanan akuakultur di Malaysia.

 

Kata kunci: Chlorella sp., koagulasi-flokulasi, titik isoelektrik, Moringa oleifera, keupayaan zeta

 

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