Abstract

Pollution is one of the prevailing issues that have been a struggle to combat today. One of its root causes is the growth of industrial production. Moreover, it also has come to a time where clean and potable water shortage has become rampant. Authorities have continuously searched for the solution to these problems. As a response to this, a small- scale feasible process can be done in solving both of these problems. An activated carbon filter can be used in filtering the contaminated water. In the case of reducing pollution, industrial materials that contribute in the accumulation of pollutants can be used in producing activated carbon filter such as waste tetra pak packaging and coconut husks. A comparison between waste tetra pak carton-derived activated carbon filter and coconut husk-derived activated carbon filter had been carried out to determine which of these is more efficient and effective in filtering water. Activated carbon can only filter specific type of organic compounds. Moreover, it is also used in treating the color and taste of contaminated water. In the current study, Iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn) were the contaminants tested in the water. Based on the results, coconut husk-derived activated carbon was able to reduce the iron content to 0.155, mg/L (28.44%) and the manganese content to 0.986 (86.34%) mg/L while tetra pak-derived activated carbon was able to lessen the same contents to 0.065 mg/L (11.93%) and 0.986 mg/L (86.34%), respectively. The researchers were able to conclude that tetra pak-derived activated carbon is more efficient than coconut husk-derived activated carbon in terms of filtering iron content and equally efficient in filtering manganese.