A cost Effective Ceramic Filters for Water Purification for Developing Nations

Abstract

This study is aimed to produce ceramic filters for water purification from clay and agricultural wastes. The clay sample was characterized using x-ray fluorescence and proximate analysis was done on various burnout samples. These samples are maize cob, sawdust, and cassava peels. The ceramic candle filters were then produced from the composition of clay and burnout samples, in a muffle furnace at 890°C. Filteration and water absorption tests were carried out on the fired filters, and the pH value, total dissolved solids, total suspended solids, hardness, and turbidity of the filtrates from each filter were examined to ascertain the quality of filtered water and the effectiveness of the filter. Two water samples, A and B obtained from two different wells were used. The rate of filtration obtained from the produced filters for Water sample ‘A’ ranges from 118 to 767ml and 49 to 513ml for Water sample ‘B’, while 670 and 438ml were obtained for Water sample A and Water sample ‘B’ respectively from the water filter available in the market. The electrical conductivity for Water sample ‘A’ filtrates ranges from 0.3 to 0.38 µs/cm while that of the purchased filter was <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$0.31 \mu s/cm$</tex> . Also, the electrical conductivity for the Water sample ‘B’ filtrate ranges from 0.4 to <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$0.51 \mu s/cm$</tex> while that of the purchased filter was <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$0.42 \mu s/cm$</tex> . The best burnout material for the production of ceramic candle filters among the used ones was sawdust. From the results obtained, the produced filters are good for water purification.