Influence of Sodium Carbonate Activator Concentration and Activated Carbon Size on The Reduction of Total Dissolved Solid (TDS) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) of Water

Abstract

Report published in 2018 by Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture suggests that Indonesia’s production of coconut is the biggest in the world. This come with some side effects concerning on its waste management, particularly for its shell wastes. In response, this research aims to use coconut shell as the raw materials of the adsorbent, previously being activated using Sodium Carbonate (Na₂CO₃) activator, for later being used to reduce water impurities. Further than that, two parameters, of which activator’s concentration ranging from 2.5 to 12.5% b/v and the size of activated carbon between 177 and 2380 µm, have been investigated. Once material prepared, by carbonization process and chemical activation, the activated carbon is immersed in poor quality water having qualitatively high turbidity and distinctive odor. Total Dissolved Solid (TDS) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) of the water have then been tested in which the results suggest the reduction of TDS and COD with the presence of activated carbon. It is reported that agglomeration of micro-sizes activated carbon upon activation with Na₂CO₃ resulted in poor screening performance. That causes the size parameter seems to have no influence on TDS. Meanwhile, the optimum activator’s concentration is reached for 5% b/v of Na₂CO₃ addition, with a decrease in TDS of 12,7% and COD of 45,93%.