Performance of Coconut-shell Activated Carbon on Methylene Blue Treatment

Abstract

Coconut shell was chosen as a raw material to synthesize activated carbon through physical and chemical activation methods and to evaluate the performance of methylene blue treatment Physical activation method was done by heating the coconut shell in the furnace at 400°C and the chemical activation method was done by using phosphoric acid. Prepared coconut-shell activated carbon (CSAC) was analysed using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to determine the presence of functional groups and their composition. Methylene blue (MB) was chosen as a dye that can be considered as a major pollutant in textile industries’ wastewater. It is a toxic and carcinogenic dye that is harmful to organisms that are exposed to or consumed. The adsorption method using CSAC was used to treat methylene blue due to its higher MB removal efficiency. In this study, methylene blue samples were treated using different dosages of CSAC (15g, 20g, 25g). Color removal (CR%) analysis, COD analysis, and turbidity analysis were done to evaluate the performance of CSAC on methylene blue treatment. 95.59%, 97.40%, and 98.23% of color removal (CR%) were achieved using CSAC dosages of 15g, 20g, and 25g respectively. For COD analysis, 55.41%, 64.33%, and 80.25% of COD removal (%) were achieved when 15g, 20g and 25 g of CSAC dosages were used. 81.48%, 85.19%, and 92.59% of turbidity removal (%) were achieved using CSAC dosages of 15g, 20g, and 25 g respectively. Hence, the adsorption process of MB increases when the dosage of CSAC increases due to surface areas present in the sample.