Sustainable Approach to Wastewater Treatment: A Study on Morphology and Efficiency of Bioadsorption Using Raw Coconut Shells

The wastewater generated by sources like restaurants, garages, etc. contains a high amount of oil and grease content as well as a high Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), which makes its treatment necessary. The traditional existing method of cleaning comes along with its after-effects, which makes the need to find a better alternative necessary. This study aims to examine the adsorptive properties of Raw Coconut Shells in terms of Oil and Grease content, and the BOD reduction of kitchen wastewater. The Oil and Grease content as well as the BOD value of the wastewater pre- and post-passing through the setup with the adsorbent layer are measured and interpreted. The variable parameters in the readings obtained are areas of the tray, the thickness of the adsorbent layer, and the volume of the input sample. The Box Behnken model in the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) is used to generate the parameter combination for the study and the interactive effects of the variable parameters over the target parameter have been studied. From all the trials, the highest reduction in BOD and Oil and Grease content of 94% and 88% respectively was observed with the parameter combinations of 3cm adsorbent layer thickness, 5L sample volume, and 25% area. Further, the maximum percentage of removals has also been predicted from the interactive effects of different parameters. The use of raw coconut shells for adsorption without much modification would reduce the environmental damage that it would otherwise cause as well as a cheaper alternative to making use of a waste product.