INTRODUCTION:

In many developing countries, approximately 17% of the world's population still uses water from the unprotected and remote sources¹, such as rivers, lakes, ponds, wells and canals for their basic need such as daily household work and agriculture. Now the quality of groundwater and surface water is continuously degraded because of pollution. It is not only affects the human life but also affects the aquatic life in the case of surface water. In our study we work on different natural methods to tackle this problem and try to improve the quality of water with respect to living organisms. The most important method in our study is the use of the natural bio adsorbents. These bio-adsorbents are inexpensive, easy to use, and non-toxic which does not reduce the quantity of essential nutrients in the water bodies².

These bio-adsorbents are biodegradable in nature so there is no harm to use these bio-adsorbents into the natural water bodies because they get degraded by the consumption of naturally present microorganisms which also increase the fertility value of the soil.

LITERATURE REVIEW:

Water is essential for life on earth. Water is not only necessary for thirst but also provide the important nutrients and minerals to the body. Fresh water of rivers and lakes has different minerals and nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, copper, sodium, potassium, fluoride and selenium which play important role in proper functioning of life. The ratio of calcium and magnesium in water is a crucial factor indicating the hardness and also related with several health problems, such as reproductive failure, renal dysfunction, neural diseases, cardiovascular problems, diabetes, and digestive dysfunction¹. Hard water is the dietary source of calcium and magnesium which is necessary for the living organism but in a certain level³. Above the certain level, hard water can create toxicity inside the body and below the level can cause deficiency of respective mineral inside the body. Calcium and Magnesium are very important for the development of a human body. Calcium is essential component of bones and teeth and plays many roles in the proper function of the conducting myocardial system, in neuromuscular excitability, heart and muscle contractility, the coagulability of blood and intracellular information transmission. Whereas Magnesium plays an important role as a cofactor and activator of more than 300 enzymatic reactions including glycolysis, transport of elements such as sodium, potassium and calcium through membranes, ATP metabolism, neuromuscular excitability and muscle contraction and synthesis of proteins and nucleic acids⁴. Approximately 17% of the world's population still uses water from the unprotected and remote sources, 51% from centralized (piped) system and 32% from some form of protected sources ¹. During last century because of urbanization and pollution the quality of water is getting substandard. Due to water pollution many substance incorporate into the natural source of water which is not only increase the hardness of water but many times toxic in nature for biotic life. About 884 million people lack access to safe water supplies; approximately one in eight people⁵. The health effects related with hard water are mainly due to the effects of the salts dissolved in water, primarily calcium and magnesium. Calcium can interact with iron, zinc, magnesium, and phosphorus within the intestine, and reducing the absorption of these minerals. Increased intake of magnesium salts may cause a change in bowel habits (diarrhea)¹. Therefore human is working on different water purification methods such as use of carbon nanotubes as membranes⁶, use of magnetic nanoparticles⁷, graphene based materials⁸, semiconductors photo catalysis⁹, and use of bio- adsorbents². In many areas of developing countries people use reverse osmosis process which reduce the hardness of water, remove the contamination of toxic substances and make the water demineralized¹⁰. This method separates all the essentials nutrients from the water and demineralized water not remains ideal for the human health¹¹. Regular consumption of demineralized water can cause the deficiency of calcium and magnesium. A low amount of calcium in water is associated with the higher risk of fracture in children¹², pre-term birth and low weight at birth¹³, some kind of neurodegerative diseases¹⁴ and certain types of cancer¹⁵. A low amount of magnesium in water is associated with pregnancy disorders¹⁶, motor neuronal diseases¹⁷ and certain types of cancer^18,19,20,21. Reverse osmosis treated water may also associated with coronary heart disease, goiter, hypertension, gastric and duodenal ulcers, gastritis and several complications in newborns and infants²². At the place of these methods we can use different natural bio-adsorbents, present in different parts of the world which have capability and efficiency to reduce the hardness of water up to an extent and can help in water purification to make the water more potable with respect to humans and for aquatic wildlife. Such natural bio adsorbents are Ziziphus mauritiana, Azadiractica indica, Citrus Limon osbeck, Foeniculum vulgare, Phyllanthus emblica and many others². For the comfort zone of human population we are using these bio-adsorbents in its natural forms, as the nature provide us.

Zizuphus mauritiana (The Indian jujube or ber) has been cultivated in different areas of the world. In India people used the Ziziphus mauritiana (Ber) since protohistory. It was even mentioned in Yajurveda²³, and are prepared for consumption in various ways. This herb is rich in many compounds like ascorbic acid, riboflavin, alkaloids, glycoside, saponins, and triterpenoic acid, which makes it useful in the prevention and cure of many diseases²⁴. Although the leaf extract of Ziziphus jujubahas been shown to enhance the phagocytic and intracellular killing potency of neutrophils²⁵. The seed extract may therefore have applications in the treatment of tuberculosis, cancer, and AIDS²⁶. Phyllanthus emblica (Amla) is a part of traditional Indian Medicinal system of Ayurveda ^{27, 28} in the various folk systems of medicine in Southeast Asia. Amla has been used for more than 3000 years in India and according to Ayurveda principles, its regular consumption is considered to be extremely useful in diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, cataracts, immune-modulatory, arthritis, dermatological disease, and memory²⁹. Azadirachta indica (Neem) the plant based indigenous knowledge was passed down from generation to generation in various parts of the world, especially in the Indian sub-continent and has significantly contributed to the development of different traditional systems of Medicine. The products of Azadirachta indica have been used for medicinal purpose from a long time³⁰ and Azadirachta indica also have potential to act as a bio adsorbent and help in the process of reduction of the hardness of the water².

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE:

Chemicals and Materials:

EDTA (Merck), NH₄Cl (Fischer), Conc.NH₃(Fischer), Eriochrome Black (CDH), Methanol (Fischer), Tap water (Area-Jaipur), Distilled water, Ziziphus mauritiana Leaves, Azadirachta indica Leaves, Phyllanthus emblica Fruit.

Method:

The leaves of Ziziphus mauritiana were taken from Jaipur rural village-Morija. These 8-10 leaves of Ziziphus mauritiana were dipped into 500ml of tap water. Similarly, leaves of Azadirachta indica were taken from the Neem forest situated at Amity University Rajasthan, Kant Kalwar, Jaipur (Rajasthan). Approximately 10-15 leaves of Azadirachta indica were also dipped into 500ml of tap water. The fruit of Phyllanthus Emblica were taken from Jaipur rural town-Chomu. This fruit of Phyllanthus Emblica was chopped and was also dipped into 500ml water. In order to make 0.1M solution of EDTA, 37.225g of EDTA was dissolved in 1L of distilled water and to make indicator solution, 0.5g of Eriochrome Black T was dissolved in 100ml of methanol and for buffer solution, 70g of NH₄Cl was dissolved in 570ml of conc. HNO₃and was diluted to one liter of solution with distilled water. We filled the burette with 0.1M EDTA solution. We took out 25ml of tap water into a volumetric flask with a pipette and added 20ml of distilled water and subsequently 10ml of buffer solution. The next would be addition of 2-3 drops of Eriochrome Black-T indicator solution. We titrated against 0.1M EDTA solution till the color of the solution changed from wine red to blue³¹. We noted the final reading and repeated to get three concordant readings. The same procedure was repeated with all the three samples of water which were treated with Ziziphus mauritiana leaves, Azadirachta indica leaves and Phyllanthus emblica fruit with respect to time intervals and readings were noted successfully.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:

At the initial point of time i.e., on the very first day the bio-adsorbents were not able to show their naturally designed potential completely as the natural extracts of these herbs were not released properly into the water sample. This directly contradicted the type of results which were expected. On the second day, all the extracts of the bio adsorbents were released into the water and displayed their capabilities in the process of reduction of the hardness which was therefore, proven by the experiment. After 72 hours, bio-adsorbents showed promising results towards the direction of the reduction of hardness in water. It is a biological method and with the help of this method we can make the natural water bodies less contaminated and more optimal for living organisms with bio-adsorbent as a source. Therefore, our results totally emphasized on the fact that these bio-adsorbents have potential to reduce the hardness of water and these bio-adsorbents are non-toxic and biodegradable in nature. But we still need to do more research with the motion of this direction. The hardness of tap water which we took during the experiment was 373.33ppm.

Table 1: Analysis results of water samples after using of bio-adsorbents.

Bio-adsorbents	Parameters	24 (hours)	48 (hours)	72 (hours)
Ziziphus mauritiana	(i) Hardness (ppm)	454.4	72	60
	(ii) pH	7.03	7.1	7.18
Azadiractica indica	(i) Hardness (ppm)	232	58.4	48
	(ii) pH	7.01	7.18	7.2
Phyllanthus emblica	(i) Hardness (ppm)	302.6	208	201.33
	(ii) pH	7.0	7.12	7.32

Fig 1: Activity of Ziziphus Mauritiana

Fig 2: Activity of Azadirachta Indica

Fig 3: Activity of Phyllanthus emblica

With reference to Ziziphus mauritiana, the hardness observed after a specific time interval and on the very first day was 454.4ppm but there was a remarkable decrease in magnitude of hardness after 24 hours by 382.4ppm and subsequently after 48 hours, the value of hardness reached to 60ppm (Fig: 1). At the initial point of time, Ziziphus mauritiana showed contradictory results as the hardness was increased after its treatment. But later, there was a drastic change in the amount of hardness of the water sample as compared to the tap water. This change was remarkable. Similarly, when the water sample was treated with Azadirachta indica, the hardness on the very first day was 232ppm which was decreased by 173.6ppm after 48 hours and subsequently the hardness of the water sample was decreased to 48ppm after 72 hours (Fig: 2)³². The treatment of the water sample with Phyllanthus emblica didn’t showed a marginable difference. The hardness on the very first day was 302.6ppm which was decreased to 208ppm after 48 hours and the hardness after 72 hours was decreased to 201.33ppm (Fig: 3). Phyllanthus emblica also displayed positive results but after 48 hours and 72 hours the difference was not that marginable as compared to Ziziphus mauritiana and Azadirachta indica (Table 1).

CONCLUSION:

In this paper we have mentioned the capabilities and efficiency of the naturally present bio-adsorbents in the process of water purification. Our research and statistical data shows that the bio adsorbents like Ziziphus mauritiana have great potential to reduce the hardness of water by some natural and simple procedure. Ziziphus mauritiana reduce the hardness up to a remarkable extent. These bio adsorbents are simple, natural, inexpensive, nontoxic, and bio-degradable and do not affect the quality of water. On the other hand, reverse osmosis is a great technology in the field of desalination of water but it also demineralizes the water which directly affects the developing generation of the human society and therefore this process however counts to be as a drawback. However, reverse osmosis encounters water contamination but this process is not that economical as compared to the other processes involved in the purification of water. These bio-adsorbents can be implemented in those water bodies which are stagnant and logged, as such contamination in water bodies can be both point and non-point source of water pollution. The whole process is non energy consuming and on the either way, this is just recognition of what nature has provided to consumers (primary and secondary). It has therefore, supported the energy crisis (in terms of energy management). This paper is an integration of all the diversified branch of environmental sciences and technology other than safety and policies and it promotes environmental sustainability.

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Received on 01.04.2019 Modified on 21.05.2019

Research J. Pharm. and Tech. 2019; 12(10):4803-4806.

DOI: 10.5958/0974-360X.2019.00830.8