Hylocereus polyzhirus’ Foliage, Peels & Flesh:

An Updated Review on their Effectiveness as Natural Coagulant

________________________________________________________________________________________

ABSTRACT

This study is focused on the effectiveness of Hylocereus polyzhirus peels, foliage, and flesh as natural
coagulants on polluted river water. Coagulants are a vital process of water treatment whereas it is used to
remove the turbidity in raw water. The experiment conducted standard jar tests with the extracted
phytochemicals from the H. polyzhirus and the river water while using a magnetic stirrer. The three parts of the
said fruit, namely the peels, foliage, and flesh are extracted independently of their phytochemicals. Three sets of
three beakers of 100 mL river water are added with the phytochemical extracted respectively from each part.
The amount of dosage for the water treatment is set uniform at 50 mg/L. In determining the results of the
treatment, the water is tested in three water parameters which is through the measurement of turbidity in water
transparency and total suspended solids, measurement of pH level, and measurement of conductivity.

Keywords: Hylocereus polyzhirus, natural coagulant, water treatment, turbidity, pH level, conductivity

INTRODUCTION Chemical coagulants, like aluminum sulfate, ferric

Safe drinking water is vital for human health
and the welfare of the community. However, in
developing countries, lack of its access has been a
common problem nowadays. In the Philippines,
around one out of ten people still do not have access
to improved water sources (WHO, 2019).
Contaminated water may result in water-borne
diseases (UN-habitat, 2012), such as cholera,
diarrhea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid, and polio
(WHO, 2019). Families without access to safe water
sources in or near their homes usually spend
considerably more time and energy in collecting
water (Water.org, 2019). Thus, there is a need to
improve the availability of safe drinking water, and
this can be done through effective water treatment.
Coagulation is an important step in any water
purification process. It neutralizes charges resulting
in a large mixture of gelatinous mass and trapped
particles, huge enough to be separated or filtered
(SSWM, 2019). This method can separate
suspended minerals, organics, pathogens, and
dissolved species (Mazille & Spuhler, 2019).
chloride, and polyaluminum chloride (Vishali &
Karthikeyan, 2014), are the most commonly used in
coagulation (Fathinatul & Nithyanandam, 2014),
however, they have been linked to poisoning and
illnesses such as dementia and alzheimer’s disease
(Ismail et al., 2018 as cited in Okuda et al., 1999;
Rondeau et al., 2001; Flaten, 2001) and their usage
have been proven to be more costly and harmful to
the ecosystem (Pastay, Koppad, & Gowda, 2017).
Thus, using plant-based coagulants has shown to be
a good alternative as they are cost-effective,
biodegradable, and toxic free (Ismail et al., 2018 as
cited in Yin, 2010, Asrafuzzaman et al., 2011;
Bratby, 2006).
Hylocereus polyzhirus, commonly known as dragon
fruit, is a climbing plant that belongs to the family
Cactaceae. It is a succulent climbing shrub with red
flesh and red peels, growing on long, thin, vining
cactuses. Hylocereus species are known to have
coagulant characteristics as their peels have already
been proven to be efficient in removing dyes and
toxic metal ions from water (Mallampati, Xuanjun,
Adin, & Valiyaveetil, 2015), the mucilage in their
stem demonstrated high efficiency in reducing
turbidity (Pichler, Young, & Alcantar, 2012), and
their foliage have also been studied as a plant-based
coagulant for treatment of palm oil mill effluent,
wherein it proved to be effective at removal of the
percentage of chemical oxygen demand, suspended
solids, and turbidity of the said effluent (Som &
Wahab, 2018).
Hylocereus species have already been
deemed to be a tremendous potential as natural
coagulants with the results the peels, foliage, and
flesh have shown in treating different kinds of
water. However, determining which plant part is
more effective as a coagulant has not been
established yet. This review aims to assess the
coagulant abilities of the peels, foliage, and flesh of
H. polyzhirus and determine which is more effective
in treating water.
Methodology
The literature review conducted by the
researchers were performed through the use of
online journals, academia, and other literary works
in order to complete it. Due to its ease of access, the
researchers had a preferred use of Google, SciHub,
and various other sites and engines to easily
infiltrate these works without having to encounter a
costly paywall that would have hampered the work
being directed. The papers that were studied by the
researchers were first judged for its relevance, in
terms of time and topic, authenticity, and finally its
validity. It was then read, summarized, and
understood by the students in order to make a
comprehensive analysis of the Hylocereus
polyzhirus.
Water Coagulation and Phytochemicals
Coagulation is a process that neutralizes
charges resulting in a large mixture of gelatinous
mass and trapped particles, huge enough to be
separated or filtered. This method can separate
charged species such as suspended minerals,
organics, pathogens, and dissolved species (Mazille
& Spuhler, 2019). Adding the coagulant’s charges
as opposed to the charges of the solids to water,
neutralizes the negative charges on the solids
allowing the particles to stick together and form
micro flocs. To achieve good formation of these
micro flocs, mixing rapidly with high energy is
needed to properly distribute the coagulant and
promote its collision of particles, removing a
significant amount of charged species that make
water difficult to disinfect (MRWA, 2003). Thus,
water coagulation is an important step in any water
purification process.
Coagulants promote the suspended particles’
aggregation and sedimentation in a solution (Ismail,
Mahiddin, & Praveena, 2018 as cited in Nharingo et
al., 2015). These can be either classified as
chemical coagulants such as alum, ferric chloride
and polyaluminium chloride (Vishali &
Karthikeyan, 2014) or as naturally occurring
coagulants such as plants. Chemical coagulants are
the most commonly used in coagulation (Fathinatul
& Nithyanandam, 2014), however, they have been
linked to poisoning and illnesses such as dementia
and alzheimer’s disease (Ismail et al., 2018 as cited
in Okuda et al., 1999; Rondeau et al., 2001; Flaten,
2001) and their usage have been proven to be more
costly and harmful to the ecosystem (Pastay,
Koppad, & Gowda, 2017). Thus, using plant-based
coagulants has shown to be a good alternative as
they are cost-effective, biodegradable, and toxic
free (Ismail et al., 2018 as cited in Yin, 2010,
Asrafuzzaman et al., 2011; Bratby, 2006). As fruits
have been studied extensively, they are possible
alternatives of water treatment which are used as a
way of making them useful rather than just as
biodegradable waste because of its abundance and
its cheap availability (Pathak, Mandavgane &
Kulkarni, 2015). Plants have shown coagulant
activities because they contain phytochemicals that
are able to neutralize charges in colloidal particles
and perform polymer bridging and form flocs
(Kristianto, 2017).
Hylocereus polyzhirus, commonly known as
dragon fruit, is a climbing plant that belongs to the
family Cactaceae. Historically, this fruit is a native
plant to South America and the West Indies (Wu et
al., 2014) but is now grown in tropical and
subtropical countries i.e. The Philippines (Suh et al.,
2019). H. polyzhirus, together with white fleshed H.
undatus and yellow fleshed H. megalanthus, has
become a booming industry in the Philippines
(Eusebio & Alaban, 2018) which makes them
rampantly grown and bought in the country as a
product in agriculture, food for daily consumption
as a raw fruit and as processed products in the forms
of wine, jam, and ready-to-drink juice products
(Gonzaga, et al., 2017).
H. polyzhirus can be very beneficial as it is
high in nutrients, low in calories, contains a high
amount of dietary fiber, and helps fight chronic
diseases because it is rich in antioxidants (Meixner,
2018). Hylocereus species also contain polyphenols,
flavonoids, and Betalains which are responsible for
its anticancer activities (Choo, Koh, & Ling, 2016
as cited in Wu et al., 2005; Li et al., 2013;
Jayakumar et al, 2011). Its seeds contain
polyunsaturated fatty acids (Choo et al., 2016 as
cited in Chemah et al., 2010) which carry
health-benefiting anti-oxidants such as improving
appetite and increasing bowel movements
(Rudrappa, 2019).
H. polyzhirus contains coagulant characteristics
(Shafad et al., 2013 as cited in Diaz et al., 1999).
Sugar and proteins in the peels provide sites of the
polymeric chain for the adsorption of particles
which stimulate the coagulation process (Ismail et
al., 2018 as cited in Ridley et al., 2001). The sugar
galacturonic acid found in its peels have a
predominant active coagulation agent (Ismail et al.,
2018 as cited in Ridley et al., 2001) due to its
structure which provides a bridge for the adsorption
of particles and its deprotonating activity of
carboxylic groups in aqueous solutions (Pastay et
al., 2017).
Hylocereus peels contain pectin which is a
heterogeneous structural polysaccharide containing
α-1,4-linked D-galacturonic acid (D-GalA) residues
(Ismail et al., 2018). These are also rich in
phytochemicals with phenolic and carboxyl groups
that can bind to metal ions (Chen, 2018 as cited in
Pereira et al., 2009; Bala et al., 2007). H. polyzhirus
peels, on removing dyes and toxic metal ions from
water, proved to be efficient (Mallampati, Xuanjun,
Adin, & Valiyaveettil, 2015). Mucilage and
complex carbohydrate content in Hylocereus
species stem and its associated water retention
capacity is also said to be behind its coagulant
properties (Saenz, Sepulveda, & Matsuhiro, 2004).
This mucilage even demonstrated high efficiency in
reducing turbidity as compared to aluminum sulfate
[Al2(SO4)3], a standard water coagulant (Pichler,
Young, & Alcantar, 2012). Hylocereus species
foliage have also been studied as a plant-based
coagulant for treatment of palm oil mill effluent, a
pollutant waste from the palm oil industry, wherein
it proved to be effective at removal of the
percentage of chemical oxygen demand, suspended
solids, and turbidity of the said effluent (Som &
Wahab, 2018). H. polyzhirus was tested to be a
coagulant for concentrated latex effluent, a
byproduct from rubber processing centers, and was
deemed to be a tremendous potential as a natural
coagulant for water treatment purposes. (Idris, Som,
Musa, Hamid, Husen & Rodhi, 2012).
Phytochemical screening and extraction
Phytochemicals are a variety of
plant-derived compounds that have therapeutic
activities such as anticarcinogenic, antimutagenic,
anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties
(McGuire, 2011). They are plant chemicals that play
an important role in protecting plants from insects
and microbes as well as extreme environmental
settings. They also possess potentials for water
purification (Dalen, Pam, Izang, & Ekele, 2009)
because some phytochemicals are polyelectrolytes,
i.e. pectin, alginates, and carboxymethyl cellulose
(Madhav, Singh, & Jaiswar, 2019), that makes the
suspension of colloids unstable to initiate the
formation of flocs in a solution (CROW, 2015).
Polyphenols for example, the largest group of
phytochemicals found in Kingdom Plantae (King &
Young, 1999), have properties that aid in
detoxification of toxic pollutants. These
polyphenols – e.g. flavonoids, phenolic acids, and
polyphenolic amides – possess properties that can
clean environmental pollutants through their traits
of chelation, adsorption, reduction, complexation,
nutrient cycling, antibacterial effects, and plant
growth promotion (Tungmunnithum,
Thongboonyou, Pholboon, & Yangsabai, 2018).
Phytochemicals that are possibly present in
H. polyzhirus and could be linked to water
coagulant properties include sugars (Ismail et al.,
2018 as cited in Ridley et al., 2001), proteins
(Ismail et al., 2018 as cited in Ridley et al., 2001),
mucilage (Saenz et al., 2004), phenolic groups
(Pereira et al., 2009 as cited in Bala et al., 2007),
and carboxyl groups (Pereira et al., 2009 as cited in
Bala et al., 2007). The presence of these
phytochemicals can be tested through various
methods. For tannins, ferric chloride test can be
used; for flavonoids, soda test and ferric chloride
test; for saponins, foam test; for quinone
derivatives, Borntraeger’s reagent; for proteins,
biuret test (Irma et al., 2015). Phenols can also be
detected with a ferric chloride test that when the
bluish black color is formed, it proves its presence
(De Silva, Abeysundara, & Aponso, 2017).
Phytochemical Extraction is vital in the analysis of
phytochemicals. Extraction is used to separate the
bioactive constituents of plants using a solvent
through standard extraction procedures, leaving
behind residues (Azwanida, 2015 as cited in Handa
et al., 2008). Some common extraction procedures
are Maceration, Percolation, and Soxhlet extraction
methods. Maceration is a method of soaking coarse
or powdered plant materials in a stoppered
container with solvent and stands at room
temperature for a minimum of 3 days with frequent
stirring (Handa, Khanuja, Longo, & Rakesh, 2008).
In Percolation, the specimen is moistened with the
solvent to be placed in a percolation chamber and is
rinsed with the solvent for several times until the
active ingredient is extracted (Tiwari, Kumar, Kaur,
Kaur, & Kaur, 2011 as cited in Handa et al., 2008).
In Soxhlet extraction method, the specimen with a
limited solubility is placed in a porous bag made out
of cellulose or filter paper and the solvent to which
the specimen is going to extract is kept in the round
bottom flask (De Silva et al., 2017).
Maceration, Percolation, and Soxhlet Extraction
methods are commonly used in a small research
set-up as they are easy and simple (Azwanida,
2015). Advanced methods, on the other hand, are
costly and are harder to obtain as they involve the
use of machines and technology. Maceration and
Percolation are the easiest and simplest extraction
methods that share a similar fundamental principle
in which solvents play a critical role in the process,
the main difference is the containers used
(Azwanida, 2015). Compared to Maceration,
Soxhlet method requires only a small amount of
solvent (Handa et al., 2008) but its exposure to
costly, hazardous, organic solvents makes this
method disadvantageous (Azwanida, 2015) and not
environmental friendly, contributing to more
pollution problems (Naudé, De Beer, Jooste, Van
Der Merwe, & Van Rensberg, 1998).
The success of determining phytochemicals
from plants depends greatly on the type of solvent
used in the extraction method (Tiwari et al., 2008).
Solvents that are considered in phytochemical
extractions should have low toxicity, ease of
evaporation at low heat, promotion of extract’s
rapid absorption, preservative action, and inability
to cause dissociation of the extract (Pandey &
Tripathi, 2014). Solvents for extraction are: Water,
Ethanol, Methanol, Chloroform, Ether, and Acetone
(Pandey & Tripathi, 2014). Phytochemicals contain
different chemical characteristics and their polarity
may vary in a particular solvent (Turkmen, Sari, &
Velioglu, 2006). Methanol is found to be the most
effective solvent for extraction, as recommended by
a study, as this resulted in the highest extraction
yield and contained the highest content of phenolic,
flavonoid, alkaloid, and terpenoid, making it the
optimal solvent to obtain high content of
phytochemical constituents (Truong, Nguyen, Ta,
Bui, Do, & Nguyen, 2019). However, due to its
cytotoxic nature, it has been unsuitable for
extraction in some studies (Tiwari et al., 2008).
Methanol poisoning can be treated by ethanol
(Kester, Karpa, & Vrana, 2012), which is also a
polar solvent for phytochemical extraction and is
considered safe for human health (Do,
Angkawijaya, Tran-Nguyen, Huynh, Soetaredjo,
Ismadji, & Ju, 2014). Thus, making it the most
preferable solvent in extracting phytochemicals.
Water coagulation test
Water coagulation test is conducted through
jar test, microscale dewatering test and streaming
current detector. Microscale dewatering test allows
dozens of flocculation tests to be simultaneously
conducted where flocculants are evaluated with
various digestate types (LaRue, Cobbledick, Aubry,
Cranston, & Latulippe, 2016). Another test that can
be used for water coagulation is the Streaming
Current Detector (SCD) which measures the
charges that exist on small water suspended
particles to measure the particles’ stability in
coagulation for the feedback control of coagulant
dosage (Sibiya, 2014). But among those tests, the
jar test is the most used method to evaluate
coagulation-flocculation processes (Ndabigenesere,
Narasiah,. & Talbot, 1994). Jar testing is a process
of conducting a full-scale water treatment process
that includes adjusting the treatment chemical’s
amount and the sequence in which the chemicals are
added to raw water samples in jars or beakers
(Satterfield, 2005). Jar test has been used in a lot of
studies of coagulation- e.g. a study about dragon
fruit peels treating wastewater from a landfill
(Ismail et al., 2018) and a preliminary study about
dragon fruit foliage in treating turbid water, a
mixture of kaolin powder and tap water (Shafad et
al., 2013). This coagulation test has been considered
the most common as it follows a systematic method
that is convenient and feasible.
The success of the coagulation-filtration process
may be determined by water quality parameters
such as turbidity, pH, and conductivity.
Turbidity
Turbidity is the degree to which the water
becomes less transparent or murky due to the
suspended solids present in it (Lenntech, 2019). It
can be measured in various ways such as using a
turbidimeter and nephelometer (LaMotte, 2019),
measuring water transparency and Total Suspended
Solids (Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, 2008),
and using a secchi disk (Lenntech, 2019). Turbidity
is measured in Nephelometric Turbidity Units
(Swenson & Baldwin, 1995) that ranges from less
than 1 NTU to 1,000 NTU and more (SEKID,
2019). Water with 5 NTU is already cloudy and
with 25 NTU, it is already murky (SEKID, 2019).
In the Philippines, following the DOH AO No.
2017–0010, the Philippine National Standards for
Drinking Water allowable level of turbidity is only
up to 5 NTU (Department of Health, 2017). For
irrigation water, turbidity is not a mandatory water
parameter.
pH
pH measures the concentrations of the
hydrogen ions in a solution that usually ranges from
0 to 14 (Helmenstine, 2019), measuring the
solution’s acidity or alkalinity (Shiel, 2018). A pH
level less than 7 is acidic, a pH level greater than 7
is basic, and a pH level of 7 is neutral (Shiel, 2018).
pH can be measured in various ways such as using
litmus paper or pH paper that changes colors
depending on its pH value (Helmenstine, 2019),
using a digital pH meter that obtains the most
accurate reading of pH level (PowerHouse
Hydroponics, 2018), and using a glass electrode that
measures the difference between a hydrogen
electrode and a standard electrode (Helmenstine,
2019).
Conductivity
Conductivity is the measure of water’s
capability of passing through electrical current
(EPA, 2012). Ions from dissolved salts and
inorganic materials conduct electricity due to their
charges (EPA, 2012). The more the ions, the higher
the conductivity of water and the lesser the ions, the
lower the conductivity (Fondriest Environmental
Inc., 2019). Distilled water has 0.5 to 3 uS/cm, tap
water has 50 – 800 uS/cm, and streams has 100 –
2000 uS/cm (SWRCB, 2002).

Figure 1. Conceptual Framework on assessing the efficacy of Hylocereus polyzhirus plant parts for their
coagulation activity
 Figure 2. An Overview of the Methodology
CONCLUSION
This review shows the feasibility of using
locally available dragon fruit as a natural coagulant
to reduce turbidity in synthetic household
wastewater. In terms of solvent extraction,
Methanol CH3OH is found to be the most
preferable solvent to extract the active compound in
dragon fruit. Hence, a dragon fruit, which creates a
generous amount of waste, has the potential to act
as a natural coagulant. Further studies should be
carried out to accurately identify the specific
components in dragon fruit that aid in the
coagulation process, as well as to study the potential
of this locally discarded waste in lowering other
water quality parameters to make it widely accepted
as the new coagulant. Much research has looked
into the use of plant-based coagulants as a primary
treatment for turbidity removal and a secondary
treatment for organic pollutant (TSS, BOD, and
COD) removal. An example of this would be its
usage in the removal of various hazardous materials
from water, ranging from organic pathogens, i.e.
Leptospirosis produced by rat waste, and even
inorganic pathogens like arsenic and phosphorus,
caused by chemical spills. However, the subject of
disinfection is not widely explored. Plant-based
coagulants or plant species for tertiary water and
wastewater treatment could be a promising field for
future research.
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