DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF THE PERFORMANCE OF CERAMIC WATER FILTER PREPARED FROM DRIED DUCKWEED PLANT

ABSTRACT: Most of the available water sources such as streams, rivers and wells have been impaired by anthropogenic activities thereby rendering them unsafe for consumption. This has made access to clean potable water a mirage to communities situated in the semi urban areas, hence, increasing their daily risk of contracting water borne diseases. This work initiates the treatment of these water sources with dried duckweed plant. The duckweed plant was prepared and incorporated into a ceramic water filter (CWF) and was compared with other ceramic water filters prepared alongside. The filters were allowed to filter water obtained from a river source so as to evaluate their removal efficiency on the physicochemical parameters before and after treatment. The experimental results showed a significant reduction in the values of Turbidity from 97.85 NTU to 0.093-0.002NTU, Chloride from 163.74 mg/l to 10.50-7.52mg/l, Nitrate from 129.01mg/l to 13.67-9.88mg/l, Phosphates from 29.86mg/l to 1.20-0.67mg/l, Total Dissolved Solids(TDS) from 400.50mg/l to 105.00 to 95.50mg/l, Total Organic Carbon(TOC) from 62.78mg/l to 16.50-11.80mg/l, Biochemical Oxygen Demand(BOD) from 97.00mg/l to 37.00-22.00mg/l, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) from 283.00mg/l to 66.00-47.00mg/l, Total Hardness from 148.96mg/l to 103.44-79.22mg/l and pH from 9.64 to 7.49. The result of filtration showed that the ceramic water filter incorporated with duckweed gave the best removal efficiency of contaminants within the maximum limit recommended by Nigeria Industrial Standards (NIS) and World Health Organisation (W.H.O*).

KEYWORDS: Ceramic Water Filters, Clay, Duckweed, Water Treatment.