An investigation of a mixture of coconut husk and rice husk as activated carbon for treatment of wastewater

Abstract

Abstract Malaysia’s population has rapidly developed every year, with considerable waste were produced. It caused a severe effect on the surroundings and reduced the quality of water on surface water bodies. Thus, significant improvement has been implemented to increase the quality of wastewater effluent and combat environmental issues. This research evaluates the activated carbon performance from rice husk and coconut husk to reduce the pollutants in wastewater effluent. The effluent was collected at a wastewater treatment plant in UiTM Dengkil. In this study, the characteristics of wastewater effluent were analysed. Later, the activated carbon (AC) was produced using the chemical agent of ZnCl2 divided into six batches of experiments. The experiment has been observed in two weeks, and the results have been examined for the percentage of nitrate-nitrogen, nitrite-nitrogen, ammonia-nitrogen, phosphorus, and E. Coli. For the batch experiment of AC in mixed coconut husk and rice husk, the percentage removal is 87%, 79%, 54%, 95%, and 100%, respectively. It has been found that the mixture of rice husk and coconut husk AC was significantly effective in removing all the pollutants. It can be deduced that the treatment using activated carbon has improved the water quality and fulfilled the limitation set in the Standard of Environmental Quality (Sewage), 2009.