Hydrocarbon holding capacity of the coconut endocarp in oily water

Abstract

In the research, the use of a granular filtering material, based on an endocarp or coconut shell (Cocos nucifera), was evaluated for the treatment of water contaminated with diesel at the laboratory level. A filter system with PVC tubes was built and packed with the endocarp after being crushed to a diameter of 2 mm. Five quantities of filter material (75, 105, 135, 150 and 165 g) and three concentrations of diesel oil in water (5, 10 and 15 %) were used. The samples of contaminated water were allowed to flow through the filters in a descending manner by gravitational action and each filtrate was determined the amount of oils and fats (AyG), by international standards. The results were analyzed statistically by factorial ANOVA and Fisher's minimal significant difference test. The statistical analyzes showed that there is a significant influence of the two factors (% diesel and amount of filtering material) on the response variable under study (AyG) with a confidence level of 95 %. It was demonstrated that the coconut endocarp with the grain size used, is effective for the removal of hydrocarbons in the water, achieving removal percentages of 85.10, 84.23 and 82.10 %. It was obtained that the greater the amount of filtering material, the greater the degree of removal with statistically significant results.