Treatment of Wastewater with Acid and Alkaline Modified Coconut Fiber Carbon

Nwamadi C. J; Wami E. N.; Dagde K. K.

Abstract

The thrust of this study is to investigate the effect of acid and alkaline modified coconut fibre carbon for Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) waste water treatment. The Coconut fibre were obtained as an agrowaste material from Ahiankwo Market in Umuoyoro, Omuma L.G.A, Rivers State, Nigeria while the LNG waste water was sourced from Greenvile LNG plant in Rumuji, Emohua L.G.A, Rivers state, Nigeria. The coconut fiber was carbonized, chemically activated using HCL and NaOH solutions, and assessed for conventional parameters of activated carbon, including bulk density, porosity, pore volume, ash content, moisture content, pH, and particle size. In the subsequent adsorption tests, where the primary goal is the removal of suspended and dissolved Particles (SDP), the activated carbons were utilized to treat the LNG waste water. Total Dissolved Solids, Total Suspended Solids, Total Hardness, Turbidity, Oil content, and pH were the SDP parameters examined. The impact of the process parameters (such as carbon dosage and contact time, particle size, concentration, pH, and concentration) on the percent removal of the SDPs was also investigated and evaluated. It was determined that while carbon dosage and contact time showed a positive correlation with the percent removal of the SDPs, the opposite was true for particle size, pH, and concentration. However, in general, the acid activated carbon treated waste water samples had water treatment parameter values better than those for the alkaline activated carbon treated waste water samples, showing that acid is a better chemical activating agent to be used for the activation of coconut coir agro-waste, for this purpose. The foregoing was corroborated with the plot of Freundlich Isotherm when fitted against the linear models, a correlation coefficient of 0.986 and 0.982 was obtained for the acid and alkaline activated carbon treated waste water samples respectively. This further proves that the acid activated carbon served for a better purification agent than the alkaline activated carbon. Findings from this study can be used by LNG plants operating in our Nigerian environment (where these agro-waste are abundant) for the purification of their effluent before discharge into the immediate environment in the pursuit of the new millennium environmental preservation to leave his environment better than the way he met it.