Effectiveness of Coconut Shell Activated Carbon Filter Material Produced Under Various Carbonization and Activation Conditions

Abstract

Water is an important resource on the earth surface which has been contaminated in so many ways such as with refuse and effluents from households. Various works have been done to remedy the effects of anthropogenic and industrial contamination of surface and groundwater. Activated Carbon is a very good adsorption material which has been employed in the treatment of contaminated water. In this work, activated carbon was produced from coconut shell under various carbonization temperatures and activation times, using hydrochloric acid (HCl) as the activating agent. Water treatment analyses were carried out on the product and results showed that the optimum carbonization temperature and activation time were 500oC and 180 minutes respectively. Resulting characteristics were; yield of 30.579%, bulk density of 0.704g/ml, the ash content of 7% and pore volume of 0.64ml. On treatment of contaminated surface water, this sample gave 66.9% Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) removal efficiency and 86.7% Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) removal efficiency at a carbon dosage of 0.2g/60ml.