Abstract
Opuntia ficus-indica that belongs to the Cactaceae family and is a member of Opuntia kind has received increasing research interest for wastewater treatment by flocculation. The objectives of this study were (i) to provide more information regarding the active constituents of Opuntia spp. and (ii) to improve the extracting and using conditions of the flocculant molecules for water treatment. A classic approach by jar test experiments was used with raw and extracted material by solubilization and precipitation. The surface properties of solid material were characterized by FTIR, SEM, zeta potential measurement, and surface titration. The splitting based on the solubility of the material with pH and the titration of functional groups completed the method. The optimal pH value for a coagulation–flocculation process using cactus solid material (CSM) was 10.0 and a processing rate of 35 mg L−1. The alkaline pH of flocculation suggests an adsorption mechanism with bridging effect between particles by water-soluble extracted molecules. To validate this mechanism, an extraction water was carried out at pH = 10 (optimum of flocculation) and the solution was acidified (pH = 7) to allow precipitation of so considered active flocculant molecules. The strong flocculant property of this extract was verified, and titration of this solution showed at least one specific pKa of 9.0 ± 0.6. This pKa corresponds to phenol groups, which could be assigned to lignin and tannin.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aboulhassan MA, Souabi S, Yaacoubi A, Baudu M (2016) Coagulation efficacy of a tannin coagulant agent compared to metal salts for paint manufacturing wastewater treatment. Desalination Water Treat 57(41):19199–19205. https://doi.org/10.1080/19443994.2015.1101016
Betatache H, Aouabed A, Drouiche N, Lounici H (2014) Conditioning of sewage sludge by prickly pear cactus (Opuntia ficus Indica) juice. Ecolog Eng 70:465–469. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2014.06.031
Bodlund I, Pavankumar AR, Chelliah R, Kasi S, Sankaran K, Rajarao GK (2014) Coagulant proteins identified in Mustard: a potential water treatment agent. Inter J Environ Sci Techn 11(4):873–880. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-013-0282-4
Bouaouine O, Baudu M, Khalil F, Chtioui H, Zaitan H (2017) Comparative study between Moroccan cactus and chemicals coagulants for textile effluent treatment. J Mater Environ Sci 8:2687–2693
Bouatay F, Mheni MF (2014) Use of the cactus cladodes mucilage (Opuntia Ficus Indica) as an eco-friendly flocculants: process development and optimization using stastical analysis. Int J Environ Res 8:1295–1308
Cox JS, Smith DS, Warren LA, Ferris FG (1999) Characterizing heterogeneous bacterial surface functional groups using discrete affinity spectra for proton binding. Environ Sci Techn 33(24):4514–4521. https://doi.org/10.1021/es990627l
Feugang JM, Konarski P, Zou D, Stintzing FC, Zou C (2006) Nutritional and medicinal use of Cactus pear (Opuntia spp.) cladodes and fruits. Front Biosci 11(1):2574–2589. https://doi.org/10.2741/1992
Freitas TKFS, Oliveira VM, de Souza MTF, Geraldino HCL, Almeida VC, Fávaro SL, Garcia JC (2015) Optimization of coagulation-flocculation process for treatment of industrial textile wastewater using okra (A. esculentus) mucilage as natural coagulant. Indus Crops Prod 76:538–544. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2015.06.027
Fu F, Wang Q (2011) Removal of heavy metal ions from wastewaters: a review. J Environ Manag 92(3):407–418. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2010.11.011
Gross KC, Seybold PG (2001) Substituent effects on the physical properties and pKa of phenol. International J Quantum Chem 85(4-5):569–579. https://doi.org/10.1002/qua.1525
Herrero-Martínez JM, Sanmartin M, Rosés M, Bosch E, Ràfols C (2005) Determination of dissociation constants of flavonoids by capillary electrophoresis. Electrophoresis 26(10):1886–1895. https://doi.org/10.1002/elps.200410258
Ibanez-Camacho R, Meckes-Lozoya M, Mellado-Campos V (1983) The hypoglucemic effect of Opuntia streptacantha studied in different animal experimental models. J Ethnopharmacol 7(2):175–181. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-8741(83)90019-3
Jiangya M, Fu K, Fu XGQ, Ding L, Shi J, Zhu G, Zhang X, Zhang S, Jiang L (2017) Flocculation properties and kinetic investigation of polyacrylamide with different cationic monomer content for high turbid water purification. Sep Purif Techn 182:134–143
Jones AN, Bridgeman J (2016) Investigating the characteristic strength of flocs formed from crude and purified Hibiscus extracts in water treatment. Water Res 103:21–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2016.07.019
Kaur M, Kaur A, Sharma R (2012) Pharmacological actions of Opuntia ficus indica: a review. J of applied pharma Sci 07:15–18
Lee CS, Chong MF, Robinson J, Binner E (2014a) A review on development and application of plant-based bioflocculants and grafted bioflocculants. Indus Eng Chem Res 53(48):18357–18369. https://doi.org/10.1021/ie5034045
Lee CS, Robinson J, Chong MF (2014b) A review on application of flocculants in wastewater treatment. Proc Safety Environ Protect 92(6):489–508. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2014.04.010
Li Y, Li Q, Hao D, Hu Z, Song D, Yang M (2014) Characterization and flocculation mechanism of an alkali-activated polysaccharide flocculant from Arthrobacter sp. B4. Bioresour Technol 170:574–577. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2014.07.112
Miller SM, Fugate EJ, Craver VO, Smith JA, Zimmerman JB (2008) Toward understanding the efficacy and mechanism of Opuntia spp. as a natural coagulant for potential application in water treatment. Environ Sci Technol 42(12):4274–4279. https://doi.org/10.1021/es7025054
Ndabigengesere AI, Narasiah KS, Talbot BG (1995) Active agents and mechanism of coagulation of turbid waters using Moringa oleifera. Water Res 29(2):703–710. https://doi.org/10.1016/0043-1354(94)00161-Y
Nharingo T, Moyo M (2016) Application of Opuntia ficus-indica in bioremediation of wastewaters. A critical review. J Environ Manag 166:55–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2015.10.005
Ragnar M, Lindgren CT, Nilvebrant N-O (2000) pK a-values of guaiacyl and syringyl phenols related to lignin. J Wood Chem Techn 20(3):277–305. https://doi.org/10.1080/02773810009349637
Renault F, Sancey B, Badot PM, Crini G (2009) Chitosan for coagulation/flocculation processes—an eco-friendly approach. Europ Polym J 45(5):1337–1348. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2008.12.027
Robb CS, Geldart SE, Seelenbinder JA, Brown PR (2002) Analysis of green tea constituents by HPLC-FTIR. J Liq Chrom Related Techn 25(5):787–801. https://doi.org/10.1081/JLC-120003036
Sjöholm I, Stigbrand T (1974) Circular dichroism studies on the copper ligand structure of umecyanin by spectropolarimetric titration. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) – Prot Structure 371(2):408–416. https://doi.org/10.1016/0005-2795(74)90037-3
Tatzber M, Stemmer M, Spiegel H, Katzlberger C, Haberhauer G, Gerzabek MH (2007) An alternative method to measure carbonate in soils by FT-IR spectroscopy. Environ Chem Letters 5(1):9–12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-006-0079-5
Thomas LC, Chittenden RA (1964) Characteristic infrared absorption frequencies of organophosphorus compounds—I. The phosphoryl (P=O) group. Spectrochim Acta 20(3):467–487. https://doi.org/10.1016/0371-1951(64)80043-6
Torres LG, Cadena G, Carpinteyro-Urbán S, Corzo LJ (2014) New galactomannans and mucilages with coagulant-flocculant activity for an environment friendly treatment of wastewaters. Current Adv Environ Sci 2:52–58
Tungjai M, Poompimon W, Chatchanok L, Kothan S (2008) Spectrophotometric characterization of behavior and the predominant species of flavonoids in physiological buffer: determination of solubility, lipophilicity and anticancer efficacy. The Open Drug Delivery J 2(1):10–19. https://doi.org/10.2174/1874126600802010010
Včeláková K, Zusková I, Kenndler E, Gaš B (2004) Determination of cationic mobilities and pKa values of 22 amino acids by capillary zone electrophoresis. Electrophoresis 25(2):309–317. https://doi.org/10.1002/elps.200305751
Venyaminov SY, Kalnin NN (1990) Quantitative IR spectrophotometry of peptide compounds in water (H2O) solutions. I. Spectral parameters of amino acid residue absorption bands. Biopolymers 30(13-14):1243–1257. https://doi.org/10.1002/bip.360301309
Wu H, Liu Z, Li A (2016) Evaluation of chain architectures and charge properties of various starch-based flocculants for flocculation of humic acid from water. Water Res 96:126–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2016.03.055
Yin CY (2010) Emerging usage of plant-based coagulants for water and wastewater treatment. Process Biochem 45(9):1437–1444. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procbio.2010.05.030
Zhang J, Zhang F, Luo Y, Yang H (2006) A preliminary study on cactus as coagulant in water treatment. Process Biochem 41(3):730–733. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procbio.2005.08.016
Funding
The authors would like to thank the bilateral Toubkal PHC program for its financial support.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bouaouine, O., Bourven, I., Khalil, F. et al. Identification of functional groups of Opuntia ficus-indica involved in coagulation process after its active part extraction. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 11111–11119 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-1394-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-1394-7