Efficacy of composite filter in treating wastewater

Abstract

Composite filters made from biochar of peanut shell, biochar of coconut shell, kaolin clay as well as rice husk were used in treating wastewater samples obtained from Iju (Atuwara) river. The physicochemical parameters (turbidity, pH, TDS, TSS, total hardness, PO43-, SO42-, Cl-and NO3) and heavy metal ions of the wastewater before and after treatment were investigated using MP-AES technique. Scanning electron microscope and electro-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy characterisations were used to determine the composition of the filters. The results were compared against a commercial filter used as a control. From the results, it was deduced that filter F8 was found to be the most effective in correcting the physicochemical parameters in the raw water, having the highest removal efficiencies of 69.54%, 50%, 97.63%, 96.98%, 65.56%, and 67.61% for turbidity, total hardness, TDS, SO42-, Cl-and NO3, respectively, than the control with removal efficiencies of 49.24%, 43.3%, 65.38%, 72.56%, 61.07%, and 60.51%, respectively. Filter F10 proved to be the most effective in treating heavy metals in comparison to the control.