Guazuma ulmifolia: an environmentally friendly coagulant aid for water treatment.

In the present work the use of a promising novel coagulant aid, Guazuma ulmifolia, was optimized to treat synthetic water using central composite being highly efficient at rotatable design (CCRD). The factors evaluated for the coagulation-flocculation process were coagulants dosages and pH. A model to describe the coagulation-flocculation process was successfully obtained. The model was validated using 5 mg L-1 aluminum sulfate, 2.5 mg L-1 G. ulmifolia and pH 9, achieving excellent agreement with observed values.