Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

APPLICATION OF ACTIVATED CARBON DERIVED FROM DURIAN WASTES FOR IMPROVING TURBIDITY, TOTAL ORGANIC CARBON, AND DISSOLVED ORGANIC CARBON

Mariam Firdhaus Mad Nordin, Yamuna Manickam1, Kamyar Shameli, Tomoyo Tsuji, Megat Johari Megat Mohd Noor, Amir Husni Mohd Shariff, Rizki Wannahari and Ahmad Saufi Mohd Nawi

Abstract

Durian waste is an agricultural waste found abundantly in Malaysia and turning them into Activated Carbon (AC) for water treatment is yet to be explored. In this research, activated carbon has derived from three types of wastes, namely rotten durian husk (RDH), fresh durian husk (FDH) and durian seed (DS) by using three different types of activating agents; Potassium Hydroxide (KOH), Zinc Chloride (ZnCl2) and phosphoric acid (H3PO4). The performance of produced activated carbon was investigated on the removal of turbidity, total organic carbon (TOC), and dissolved organic carbon (DOC). The activated carbon was characterized by proximate and chemical analysis. From the characterization, it was found that all the produced activated carbon (i.e. RDHKOH, RDHZnCl2, RDHH3PO4, FDHKOH, FDHZnCl2, FDHH3PO4, DS KOH, DS ZnCl2, DS H3PO4) have ash content less than 10%. The highest surface area is produced by RDHKOH, which is 213.09 m2/g. The removal rate of turbidity for all types activated carbon is up to 99% and the removal rate of TOC and DOC is more that 60%. Finally, FDHZnCl2 has shown a better performance of removal of turbidity, TOC and DOC compared to the other AC’s produced due to the high carbon and less oxygen content.