SDCA Journal of Medical Technology

Abstract

Water is an essential part of life and contributes to humanity's vitality. It is used for drinking, cooking, bathing, washing clothes, cleaning materials and recreation. However, quality of water must be maintained, because tainted water can pose as a health hazard. Besides waterborne microbial and viral agents that contaminate drinking water and harm humans, heavy metals such as lead are just as hazardous to humans as well. The quality of water in Southeast Asian nations has been deteriorating because of rapid population growth, urbanization, and industrialization. The researchers plan to use the tap water from Cavite in the Philippines for the study to determine if chitosan can act as a de-leading agent. This study discussed the average amount of lead found in tap water and if there will be a significant difference on the average amount of lead found in the tap water of Cavite, Philippines, before and after treatment using the chitosan extract from janitor fish (Pterygoplichthys). Chitosan is a natural polysaccharide that is found in abundance within the scales of fish. Researchers plan to extract chitosan from the scales of janitor fish (Pterygoplichthys), because they are common in the murky waters of the Philippines. Moreover, their species has a high rate of reproducing offspring, and they are inedible. The researchers dried fish scales using sunlight and performed demineralization, deproteinization, and deacetylation to obtain the chitosan extract. Chitosan in a powdered form will be used as a binding agent to attract the lead ions present in the water. The amount of lead in the tap water was measured after the use of chitosan as a de-leading agent using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS) and compared the results of the experimental groups and the control groups through analysis of variance (ANOVA).

Keywords: Chitosan; De-leading; Tapwater; Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS); Demineralization; Deproteinization; Deacetylation.