REMOVAL OF LOW CONCENTRATION OF KEROSENE FROM WATER USING NIPA PALM (NYPA FRUITICANS WURMB) FRUIT FIBRE

Abstract

Nipa palm fruit fibre was carbonized at 400oC in a muffle furnace and used to remove kerosene in contaminated water in a batch experimental process with chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction as the measurement parameter. The elimination of kerosene in the contaminated water was studied by applying the effect of carbon dosage and initial contaminant concentration. The results obtained showed that, the best process conditions for removing kerosene in the contaminated water samples were 8.0 mg carbon dosage at low concentration of 20 mg/L of kerosene contamination. The adsorption isotherm of the elimination process was evaluated by Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models and the data fitted better to Freundlich isotherm (R2 = 0.84) when compared to Langmuir isotherm (R2 = 0.88). The maximum monolayer surface coverage as computed from the Langmuir equilibrium adsorption data was 1.43 mg/g.  The overall outcome indicates that the carbonized carbon produced from Nipa palm fruit fibre has low ability in reducing kerosene from contaminated water.