A comparison study of water filtering materialsmade from extracted palm fruit fibreand palm kernel shell

Abstract

The use of activated carbon as filter media for water has gained research attractions over the years. A comparison study ofgranular activated carbon (GAC) of extracted palm fruit fibres (EPF), palm kernel shell (PKS) with existing filter material (EFM)commercially produced activated carbon for water filtration has been conducted. Palm kernel shells and extracted palm fruitfibres from palm oil mill wastes were processed to form activated carbon by chemical activation process. Scanning ElectronMicroscopy (SEM) was used to obtain the magnified images of GAC EFM, GAC EPF and GAC PKS. The turbidity, pH level,total solid suspended and chemical oxygen demand of water filtrates from tap and rain obtained from the three filters wereanalysed. Turbidity level was least for GAC EPF with value of 0.68 NTU and 0.32 NTU compared to GAC PKS (0.79 NTU 0.65 NTU) and GAC EFM (0.84 NTU and 0.44 NTU) for rain and tap water respectively. The Chemical Oxygen Demand(COD) after filtration process were 27 mg/L, 34mg/L and 1mg/L for GAC EFM, GAC PKS and GAC EPF respectively. Theresults show that GAC EPF yielded an optimum performance in balancing the pH level, reducing turbidity, reducing suspendedsolid and chemical oxygen in water.