The Use of Coconut-Shell Based Activated Carbon as an Adsorbent in the Treatment of Hard Water

Abstract

One of the undesirable characteristics of some groundwater sources is hardness, which has adverse effects on water pipes, boilers and soap consumption. Therefore, several treatment processes have been introduced to remove or reduce the hardness from water. One of the innovations in this regard is coconut-shell which is readily available and could be used to produce resource materials such as activated carbon that is of public health importance. The initial values of Calcium, Magnesium and Total Hardness in the raw water sample were 120.24mg/L, 98.29mg/L and 588.00mg/L, respectively which are above the World Health Organization (WHO) standard. The highest quantities of Calcium, Magnesium and Total Hardness were removed at a contact time of 60 minutes with removal efficiencies of 80%, 60.44% and 66.71%, respectively. Also, the optimum dosage occurred at 1.2g for Calcium hardness, 1.5g for Magnesium hardness and Total hardness. In conclusion, the adsorbent obtained from the coconut-shell has the potential of removing Calcium, Magnesium and Total Hardness in water.