Publication: Nutrient removal efficiencies in a bioretention cell using pre-treated coconut by-product as carbon source
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Date
2022-08-17
Authors
Dinno, Nur Dianna
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Abstract
In this study, the suitability of alkali pre-treatment on coconut by-products were done by subjecting coconut husk and shell to 2M NaOH. The powdered samples were analyzed for morphology observation, FTIR, PSA and water quality test. The morphology observation showed that subjecting the coconut shell to alkali pre-treatment was able to weaken the hemicellulose structure. Meanwhile, the FTIR analysis showed that O-H stretch were present in all pre-treated samples act as indication that lignin breakdown has taken place, while both additive samples showed an absence of C=O functional group after being subjected to alkali
pre-treatment. For particle size analysis, all samples resulted in finer than standard particle size distribution, with the smallest value for D50 was that of TCS, followed by UCS, UCH and TCH at 0.341, 0.357, 0.450, and 1.37 mm respectively. Then, the D10 were found to be at 0.0723, 0.0732, 0.151 and 0.736 mm for UCS, TCS, UCH and TCH respectively. When compared to the suggested recommendation by MSMA and DSEWPC, only TCH were able to fulfill both of the recommended and typical requirement ranges. This in turn, caused poor TSS removal, whereby the TSS concentration exceeded the Inlet value, signifying that the filtering media contributed to the TSS contamination. Furthermore, all sample types showed an irregular and high concentration of TP. This is important as it indicates that all samples were able to provide phosphate ion (PO4-3) to the bioretention system, which is an important nutrient for the growth of plants. In contrast, significantly low detection of AN concentration was observed throughout the test period with values less than 4 mg/L as compared to the high AN concentration of the Inlet samples within the range 5.2 to 11.4 mg/L.