Moringa-coated sand filters as a sustainable solution for clean water

Traditional water treatment using moringa seeds only removes 90 – 99% of pathogens while allowing fouling of the water over time.  Over the past seven years Dr. Velegol’s research group has created an innovative and sustainable process that solves these two problems.  When crushed seeds are added to water and then mixed with sand the antimicrobial, moringa oleifera cationic protein (MOCP) in the seeds adsorbs to the sand creating “sticky killer” sand.  She will discuss experimental results and theoretical modeling to show how this sand can be used to remove 99.99% of pathogens and produce clean and storable drinking water. 

Presenter - Dr. Stephanie Butler Velegol received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Drexel University and her Ph.D.in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. She has been on the Penn State Engineering faculty for the last 10 years teaching and doing research on water and wastewater treatment. Dr. Velegol has advised over a dozen students on an innovative use of moringa seeds for sustainable water treatment.