Emerging plant-based flocculation treatment of phosphate clay: case study from Metlaoui-Gafsa (southwest Tunisia).

The objective of this study was to investigate the ability of cactus Opuntia ficus-indica, used as a natural flocculant in the treatment of phosphate clay as an industrial wastewater. It is a new process that has proven very promising in the removal of high turbidity from industrial effluents. The volume of clear water recovered (supernatant) is one of the characteristic features which allow us to judge the effectiveness of this bioflocculant.

Cactus Opuntia as natural flocculant for urban wastewater treatment.

The cactus tree, species Opuntia ficus-indica, is a primary material of many products in various domains such as cosmetics, medicine and nutrition. In the present work, we assess its potential as a flocculant. We tried a technique which adopts three sequential treatments that used coagulation, flocculation and sedimentation processes under certain operating conditions.