Physical Contaminants Removal from Continuous Process of Water Filtration by a New Low-Cost Palm Shell Charcoal

Abstract

Drinking water contamination is one of the most major environmental concerns that requires worldwide attention. It is now universally agreed that by supplying the community with safe water, the plague of waterborne diseases can be prevented. The increasing global concern about the environment is the utilization of agricultural waste transformation into wealth material for value-added products which should be given priority. Therefore, this study is using granular bed filtration as a vigorous, simple and economical method to prevent the physical contamination, by discovering an alternative filter media from local sources; namely the palm shell charcoal (PSC). Dual-media filtration PSC/sand ES 1.0/0.5 mm is operates at an optimum condition of removing 80.77% of turbidity, 76.23% of suspended solid and 59.45% of colour in 5 m/h flow rate.There was a statistically significant difference between types of media filter to the removal of physical variable at 0.05 levels as determined by one-way anova for the percentage removal of turbidity (p < 0.001), suspended solid (p < 0.001) and colour (p < 0.001).The PSC was identified as a potential filter media that will help in reducing the cost of water and wastewater treatment and enhancing environmental sustainability. The results from this study suggests that the PSC should be significantly used as a new biodegradable medium filter and for the removal of physical contaminants such turbidity, suspended solid and colour.