Coconut Shell Charcoal as Filter Material for Blackwater Purification

Blackwater is known as a type of domestic wastewater with high pollutant content, thus it has high turbiditylevel. In the common method of purification, blackwater is often filtered with various filter materials such as sand, gravel, and charcoal. Among those three filter materials, charcoal is the material with the most potential since it is able to remove the suspended solids and chemical pollutants thanks due to its carbon content. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of coconut shell charcoal as a filter material for blackwater purification. Coconut shell charcoal was chosen for research because it is relatively easy to obtain and inexpensive. These two factors are important considerations in formulating wastewater treatment for developing countries like Indonesia. This study also sought to determine the best filter layer thickness and the most optimal blackwater waste discharge in the treatment of turbidity reduction. The research data was the level of blackwater turbidity. The treatment of filter layer was using the thickness variations of 10 cm, 15 cm, 20 cm, and 30 cm. In addition, different residence times were applied, starts from 1 to 9 day. The result of Regression analysis showed that the thickness of the charcoal filter layer, as well as the wastewater discharge, had a significant effect on the reduction of blackwater turbidity. The best treatment was 30 cm of charcoal thickness with 9 days of residence time. Therefore, it can be stated that coconut shell charcoal is truly potential to be used as a blackwater waste filter material. In addition, this method can be easily applied by the community, especially in developing countries as the material is easy to get and the method doesn't require high budget