Design and Fabricate of Coconut Shell Activated Carbon for Groundwater Filtration System

Abstract

This paper presents the design and fabrication of activated carbon (AC) filters from agricultural coconut shells for groundwater filtration systems. The AC had been acting as a filter medium to filtrate the water. The production of AC from local agricultural wastes is the most environmentally friendly solution by transforming negative value wastes into valuable materials. The chemical and physical characteristics of AC produced were tested by adsorption capacity using Freundlich Adsorption Isotherm. Test results showed that AC with favourable physico-chemical properties can be produced locally from agricultural waste. Moreover, four parameters were measured to determine the filter's effectiveness: pH, turbidity, total suspended solids (TSS), and ammonia (NH3 –N). Consequently, the percentage removal of turbidity is 62% to 63%, TSS is 82% to 79%, and NH3-N is 12% to 4%, meeting the water quality standard. Overall, removing water quality parameters in groundwater filtration systems is more efficient with powdered AC than with granular size.