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In a laboratory at the Universidad del Valle (Univalle), cloudy water becomes transparent in its glass beakers after shaking a new plant-based material, thanks to a collaboration between researchers and Biomonty SAS, a company based in Cali, Colombia.
According to a report by the Colombian government in 2021, more than 60 municipalities in the country have a public water infrastructure that covers less than 15% of their population.
The vast majority of conventional water purification processes involve aluminium and iron salts, which act in the coagulation-flocculation process and favour the formation of flocs to separate pollutants in the water.
"The most serious problem with conventional salts is the sludge with high levels of aluminium that has detrimental effects on human health," said professor Adriana Niño Vargas, a faculty member of the School of Chemical Engineering at Univalle's Faculty of Engineering.
Professor Niño explained that to avoid effects on the environment, researchers from the School of Engineering are developing plant-based coagulants (biocoagulants), specifically from moringa and aloe vera, two crops already present in Colombia.
The Research
Professor Niño and her collaborators within the Research Group on Advanced Processes for Biological and Chemical Treatments (GAOX) tested various biocoagulants and came up with a mixture based on moringa (a small tree native to tropical Asia) and aloe vera (a succulent native to Africa and the Middle East).
In 2017, aloe vera production in the department of Valle del Cauca, covers 227 hectares with a production of 3,225 metric tons; and moringa production in the same department with 313 hectares and 3,258 metric tons in 2016.
In the lab, Prof. Niño showed that moringa is processed to a powder and aloe vera to a liquid to function as biocoagulants.
She also explained that the materials have many advantages: the sludge generated in water treatment with the biocoagulants does not contain aluminium and can also be used in agriculture as a fertiliser.
"Everything is working very well in the lab and we are working to make the costs similar to aluminium salts," said Prof Niño, adding that since the biocoagulants are new, there is no established supply chain for acquiring aloe vera and moringa at scale.
Alejandro Quintero Velez, a young researcher from Biomonty S.A.S. in partnership with the Universidad del Valle for the project, explained that he is happy that the project is making academic discoveries and benefiting the community at the same time.
"We hope that through the project, drinking water can reach places in Colombia that don't have access to it today," Quintero said.
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Graphic: This is the CAD model of the portable water treatment system using biocoagulants. Credit: Biomonty SAS
Collaboration with industry
Around the world, there are few companies that have commercialised biocoagulants for water treatment.
"The problem for researchers is that we can develop something that works in the lab but is not useful if we can't market it at a competitive price," said Prof Niño.
So that communities can benefit from this work, the researchers are working with a Cali-based company that is already developing a mobile water treatment plant for use in rural areas.
Diego Alejandro Nuñez Vallejos, a mechatronics engineer and the manager of Biomonty SAS explained that during the company's work in the basic sanitation sector, they have identified that the development of this product could reduce the disposal costs of aluminium-containing sludge.
Nuñez said Biomonty SAS won an open call from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation "Convocatoria Senainnova para el Fomento a la Innovación y desarrollo Tecnológico "por la reactivación del País" 2022 - área estratégica bioeconomía" to support projects based on biomass and portable water treatment systems.
Once they won the call for proposals, they approached several higher education institutions in Cali and chose to work with Professor Niño.
"We as an industry detect the needs of the sector to which we belong and we rely on the academic sector to provide a robust solution to those requirements," Nuñez said, adding that in this way it is a cross-cutting collaboration.
If you are interested in contacting the researcher or learning more about the project, please write to the Communications Office Faculty of Engineering: comunicaingenieria(at)correounivalle.edu.co
Cover photo: Professor Adriana Niño Vargas associated with the School of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Univalle. Credit: Alexander Bejarano/NCC-FI/Univalle
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