Assessment of reclamation potential of three plants, residue as adsorbent materials for saline ground water

Abstract

This research aimed to investigate the reclamation potential of three plants residue as adsorbents materials of saline water. Salinity of ground water constituted a serious problem in Khartoum state, it the water efficient use of water for drinking and agricultural activities. In Soba area most the farms converted to poultry production as a results of low water quality, while in Hattab area agricultural activities were hampered for the same reason despite wells availability. Water samples with different salinity levels were collected from Hattab in North Khartoum (EC=10.45 dS/m) and Soba area in South Khartoum (EC =3.65dS/m). The plants residues used were wheat (Triticum aestivum) stems, Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) leaves and Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea) peel. The plant residues were proceed by three methods, the first with oven at 170°C, the second with muffle furnace at 350C° and the third with chemical treatment and converted to crude fiber. Different diameter of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipes were filled with the plant residues to form filters. the oven dried materials was introduced in large sized PVC pipes while muffle furnace materials fiber were transferred into small PVC pipes. . Successive 10 additions of 100 ml saline water from the two levels were passed through columns filters. Electrical conductivity (EC) of collected leachates was read. The results showed that wheat stem was superior to other plants residue in the reducing water salinity at both level, Date palm leaves was more efficient in reducing water salinity at lower salinity level (from 3.65 to 2.7 dS/m) as compared to high salinity level (from 54.01 to 8.0dS/m).The Groundnut peel had good results when dried by muffle furnace at lower salinity. Oven dried treated residues performed better than muffle furnace and crude fiber in Hattab sample, while in Soba sample treatments of muffle furnace dried and crude fiber were showed good capacity to reduce water salinity. This study recommended use of crop residues in reclamation of saline water inIV developing countries as low cost adsorbent materials and they are economically and environmentally feasible