Development and performance evaluation of a portable household ceramic water filter with activated carbon and magnetic treatment unit

Abstract

This study reports the development and performance evaluation of a portable household ceramic water filter with activated carbon and magnetic treatment unit. Three levels of percentage composition of clay sawdust 60–40, 50–50 and 40–60% by volume were used. Potable water is rarely available in most rural areas of Nigeria, and drinking contaminated water could cause waterborne and water-related diseases. The ceramic filter was constructed using kaolinite-clay and sawdust, heated inside a kiln at 750–800 °C to burnout the sawdust, create micropores in the ceramic and produced hard ceramic filter cup. The activated carbon was produced from coconut shell and burnt at 750–800 °C. The ceramic, activated carbon and hose surrounded by neodymium magnet were put in each separate 12-l bucket, and the 3 buckets were placed over each other. Water was poured into the filter, and water discharge from the filter was determined. Water samples were analysed for performance evaluation of the filter. The mean water discharge of the filter with 60–40, 50–50 and 40–60% clay-sawdust were 0.365, 0.428 and 0.463 l/h, respectively. The turbidity of raw water, filtered through ceramic, ceramic plus activated carbon and ceramic plus activated carbon plus magnetic treatment were 11.59, 3.90, 3.80 and 3.80 NTU, respectively. Corresponding total coliform counts were 119, 7, 7 and 7, but WHO limit is 10 cfu/100 mL. The filter weighed 2 kg, removed E. coli bacteria from the water and is recommended for water purification.