Efficiency of coconut adsorbent based filter system for textile dye industrial wastewater treatment

Abstract

ABSTRACT The present study evaluates the efficiency of a coconut adsorbent (CSZAC and CSB) based filter system for textile dye effluent treatment. The coconut shell zinc chloride-activated carbon (CSZAC) is effectively used as a filter media in wastewater treatment due to its wider surface area (590.80 m2 g−1), good porosity and higher adsorption capacity. The TEM micrograph revealed that the activated carbon (CSZAC) appeared as black particles with pores in white areas and showed microsphere formation in their internal structure (60.4–91.25 nm). The fabricated coconut-based adsorbent filter system has a dimension of 90 × 60 × 30 cm with a holding tank of 50 litres capacity, a filtration tank and a storage tank with the optimised inlet and outlet flow rate of 5 × 10−4 m3 min−1. The Colour, pH, EC, TDS, TSS, BOD, COD, cations and anions of textile dyeing wastewater were significantly reduced, after the treatment through the CSZAC filtration system. The initial colour concentration of textile dye effluent was 7021 HU and after treatment, the colour was fully reduced within a few days of treatment and became colourless. CSZAC treatment reduced the BOD from 600 mg L−1 to 89.7 mg L−1 (80.6%) and COD from 2500 mg L−1 to 205 mg L−1 (90.5%). The cations and anions of raw textile water were reduced with CSZAC treatment which recorded a 50–80% reduction. Therefore, CSZAC can be used as an effective adsorbent material to remove different dye compounds and pollutants from textile wastewater compared to coconut shell biochar due to their activation process.