The current study is an attempt to solve the problem of high surface water turbidity that has recently emerged in Egypt. High turbidity may make it difficult for water treatment plants to manage water quality, cost and safety. High doses of alum result in high residual aluminum values that exceed the WHO specifications. Natural coagulant aids are extracted from Corchorus Olitorius L (COL) wastes and evaluated for the treatment of high turbidity of both synthetic and natural flash spill water samples.
Extracts of COL stems and leaves were prepared with water and ethanol, aqueous extracts (C1 of leaves, C0 of stem), (ethanolic extract C2 of leaves). Turbidity, are measured after 5, 10,15and 20 min. The pH is measured to follow up the different doses effect. Residual aluminum was measured to ensure that within recommended range for drinking water. Based on the results of jar test, COL extracts are efficient coagulation aids. They have the ability to reduce both the primary coagulant dose from 30 ppm to 10 ppm and the residual turbidity from (500 and 1000 to 2.4 and 2.7 NTU respectively) by using 4 and 3 ppm of aqueous extraction C1. and to 3.2, 4.3 NTU for 6,5 mg/l of aqueous extraction C0 and also to 3.0, 4.1 NTU for 5 mg/l of ethanolic extraction C2 instead of residual turbidity 27.8, 32 NTU) respectively for the same dose of primary coagulant alum as 10 mg/l only after 20 min.