CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 FILTER MEDIA

A media filter is a type of filter that uses a bed of sand, peat,
shredded

tires,

foam,

crushed

glass,

material

geo-textile

crushed granite or

other

to

drinking, swimming

pools, aquaculture, irrigation, storm

fabric,

filter water for

water

management and other applications. media filters are used to

protect water quality in streams, rivers, and lakes. They can be
effective at removing pollutants in storm water such as suspended
solids and phosphorus. Sand is the most common filter material. [1]
[2]

In

other

filters,

sometimes

called

"organic

filters," wood

chips or leaf or other organic substances can be used.

1.2 FILTRATION THROUGH ADSOPTION

Filtration is any of various mechanical, physical or biological
operations that separate solids from fluids (liquidsor gases) by
adding a medium through which only the fluid can pass. The fluid
that passes through is called thefiltrate. [1] In physical filters oversize
solids in the fluid are retained and in biological filters particulates
are trapped and ingested and metabolites are retained and
removed. However, the separation is not complete; solids will be
contaminated with some fluid and filtrate will contain fine particles
(depending on the pore size, filter thickness and biological activity).
Adsorption is the adhesion of atoms, ions, or molecules from a gas,
liquid, or dissolved solid to a surface.[1] This process creates a film of
the adsorbate on the surface of the adsorbent.
[1]

1.3 CORN COBS AS FILTER MEDIA

Maize is the common name for the cereal grass that is widely grown
for its use as a staple food and livestock fodder. Corn is Indias third
most important cereal crop after wheat and rice. All the parts of the
maize plant are used for various purposes. However, corn cobs are
one of the most plentiful and important agricultural wastes in maize
cultivation. Immature corn cobs are boiled and eaten by the local
farmers. But mature cobs are either used as fuel, resulting in air
pollution and global warming. Interestingly, corn cobs are not even
eaten by animals as they choke their digestive tract, and may lead
to death. Thereby, heaps of corncobs are found dumped in areas
where they are cultivated.
After maturation, the ears of corn are hand-picked and sun dried to
remove the kernels by machine. The kernels are sold to industries
and the left-out cobs are either thrown away in isolated places or
buried under the soil to restrain the animals to feed them. Thus, a
matter of primary concern is the economical and efficient utilization
of these corn cobs for a purpose. As they are porous, they can be
used as water filtrates.
There are many advantages of using corn cobs:
1) Efficient
2 ) Cost effective
3) Eco-friendly
[2]

4) Feasible
5) High mechanical strength
6) Locally Available
7) Reusable
8) Porous
9) Easy to Use
10) No Maintenance
11) No Operational Skill
12) Not edible
13) Utilization of agricultural waste.

[3]

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 ORGANIC FILTER MEDIA

The by-products of mans actions have resulted in severe waste
burden on Earth. Rapid developments in technology and lifestyle
have accelerated the addition of contaminants into air, water and
land rendering it unsafe for organisms. Release of pollutants from
various sources like domestic, agricultural and industrial sectors has
dramatically modified the quality of water thereby causing harm to
aquatic organisms. In extreme cases, it can even kill aquatic
organisms.

Waste

water

released

from

domestic

households

contains several harmful residual substances like detergents, oils,

colours, dyes and various salts. Agricultural activities add excessive
fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides into the nearby water bodies.
Effluents released from industries release toxic chemicals like heavy
metals, chemicals(organic or synthetic) to the aquatic ecosystems.
The best solution to water pollution is to prevent it from happening.
Separation of pollutants at source is the best method to control
water pollution. This includes physical, biological and chemical
separation to convert the dirty water to clean and usable forms
before release.

[4]

This study reveals a novel and cheap method of cleaning waste

water from domestic and industrial sources by utilizing one of the
most under-utilized agricultural wastes. The present study is based
on the scientific principles of Adsorption by immobilizing the
contaminants with the help of corn cobs. Corn is a major crop plant,
every part of which is utilized except the cob. In this project an
attempt was made to utilize this less-utilized plant part to clean one
of the most precious natural resources, water.

[5]

CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

3.1 OBJECTIVES
The main learning objective is to gain experience in scaling up from
a bench-scale operation to a production operation via batch study.
The main object of this research is to:
1) Build a cheap and efficient filtration system for purification
of industrial waste water using different layers of corn cobs.
2) Production of Activated Charcoal using corn cob.
3) Analysis of industrial waste water and purified processed
water for different impurities.
4) Calculating the efficiency of proposed model.

3.2 EQUIPMENT THEORY

The study reports adsorption of contaminants, colour dyes and
suspended particles from domestic waste water and industrial
effluents by corn cobs. The corn cobs were collected from local
farmers, washed thoroughly with water, sun dried, cut into long and
small pieces, ground to powder and burnt in suitable conditions to
form activated charcoal. These processes were done to effectively
study the phenomenon of adsorption of contaminants in waste water
by allowing contaminated water to pass through different layers of
corn cobs. Visual observation and simple physico-chemical tests
were conducted to study the presence or absence of colour dyes,
suspended particles, oxides of salts, detergents, oils and heavy
metals in waste water released from domestic households and
industries. The study revealed that agricultural bio-wastes like corn
cobs are cheap and best adsorbents to clean domestic and industrial
[6]

waste water. It is a cost-effective and simple to follow technique.

3.3 EQUIPMENT DESCRIPTION

3.3.1 MATERIALS REQUIRED
The equipment consists of the following things:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)

10 engineers pipes of 1ft each.

4 tee and 1 elbow joint.
5 clamps.
Base stand.
5 soft drink bottles of 2.25 ltr capacity.
Purified water collection beaker.
Sand and Gravels.
20 kgs of corn cobs.

All the things are joined and arranged according to fig. shown below:
Each bottle is filled with different layer of corn cobs and the last is
filled with mixture of sand and gravel.

[7]

.3.3.2 CHEMICALS REQUIRED

1)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

For analysis of industrial waste water:

Potassium ferrocyanide
Potassium iodide
Ammonium hydroxide
Ammonium sulphate
Hydrogen chloride

2) For Production of activated charcoal:

1. 25% solution of zinc chloride
2. Distilled water.

3.4 EXPERIMENT PROCEDURE

3.4.1 TEST FOR HEAVY METALS AND IMPURITIES IN
INDUSTRIAL

WASTE WATER

1) Cu 2CuCl2 + K4[Fe(CN)6] -> Cu2[Fe(CN)6]+4KCl.

{Cu2[Fe(CN)6] is chocolate brown color}
2) Pb Pb(NO3)2 + 2KI -> PbI2 + 2KNO3
{PbI2 forms yellow precipitate}
3) Mg salts MgCl2 + NH4OH + (NH4)2HPO4

-> Mg(NH4)PO4 + 2NH4Cl +

H2O
{Mg(NH4)PO4 forms white precipitate}
4) Sr [8]

SrCl2 + (NH4)2SO4 -> SrSO4 + 2NH4Cl

{ SrSO4 forms white precipitate}
5) Cr Cr(vi) in acidic medium gives magenta colour.
6) Coloured DyesEasily detected by naked eye.
7) Suspended ParticlesEasily Detected by naked eye.

3.4.2

PRODUCTION OF ACTIVATED CHARCOAL FROM CORN

COBS
1) Strip a number of coconut shells free of any remaining meat or
fiber. Wash them and let them dry completely to remove any dirt.
2) Place the coconut shells in a burning sink and burn them at a
temperature of 575 to 900 degrees Fahrenheit. Allow them to burn
for at least 4 hours, until they are complete ash.
3) Remove the ash from the sink and place it in a clean plastic pail.
Add enough CaCl2 or ZnCl2 25% chemical solution to completely
soak the ash.
4) Allow the ash to soak in the chemical solution for one full day.
That will transform it into activated charcoal.
5) Remove the charcoal from the pail and place it on a draining tray.
Wash and rinse it thoroughly with clean, distilled water to remove all
traces of the chemical solution. Allow the water to drain away for an
[9]

hour or so.
6) Place the charcoal in an oven heated to 215 degrees Fahrenheit,
and allow it to bake for 3 hours.
7) Remove the charcoal and crush it into powder form using a
hammer or an industrial blender. The grains should be as small as
you can make them.

CORN COB CHARCOAL

3.4.3 EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

1) The corn cobs were collected and dried for one month.
2) Corn cobs are taken in five separate used bottles of 2.25 ltr
[10]

capacity each containing:

- 400 g of dried longitudinal sections
- 400 g of dried small pieces
- 400 g of powdered corn cobs
- 400 g of activated charcoal of corncobs
- 500 g fine sand(Last layer) each.
3) After this known quantities of chemicals like Ca, Cu, Mg, Pb, Sr,
Cr, robin blue, lac dye, shampoo, oils were added to the pretreatment water and allowed to pass through different layers.
4) The following parameters like Total Suspended Solids, BOD, COD,
Oil, Grease,

dyes, Cu, Mg, Pb, Sr, Ca, and Cr were studied for the

pre and post treatment water to find out the rate of absorption by
corn cob.

[11]

DIFFERENT TYPES OF FILTER MEDIAS OF CORN COBS

FINAL SETUP FOR THE EXPERIMENT

[12]

REFERENCES

1) Fehintola EO, Obijole OA, Amoko JS, Joke IA, Adsorption

Equilibrium Isotherms of Pb, Ni and Cd onto powdered Egg Shells,
lfe Journal of Science, volume. 17(1):141-162 (2015).
2) Fehintola EO, Amono JS, Obijole OA, Oke IA, Pseudo second order
kinetics model of adsorption of Pb onto powdered corn cobs:
comparison of linear regression methods, Direct Res. J. Chem.
Mater. Sci., vol. 3(1):1-10 (2015).
3) Huang C, Cheng WP. J. Copied Interface Sci. 188: 270-274 (1997).
4) Ismail A, Side DB, Joke IA, Otun JA, Olarinoye NO, Luk man S,
Okuofu CA, Adsorption kinetics of Cadmium ions onto powdered
corn cobs, Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, 87:896-909
(2009).
5) Kato M, Kudo S, Hattori T., Bull. Chem. Soc. Japan, 49:267 (1998).
6) Muchlisyam, Harahap U, Silalahi J, Alfian Z, Binding ability of corn
cobs hemicellulose toward Cadmium, AJAC,4: 86-93 (2013).
7) Nada AMA, Mahdy AA, El-Gendy AA, Cationic exchangers from
corn cobs. Bio- Resources , 4(3): 1017-1031 (2009).
8) Parmar HS, Patel JB, Sudhakar P, Koshy VJ, Removal of Flu from
[13]

from water with powdered Corn Cobs. Journal of Environment,

Science & Envy. Vol. 48(2): 135-138 (2006).

[14]