The Potential of Landscape Waste Adsorbent for the Removal of Ammonia in River Water

Authors

  • Mimi Suliza Muhamad , Nuramidah Hamidon , Norshuhaila Mohamed Sunar , Nor Hazren Abdul Hamid , Hasnida Harun , Roslinda Ali , Noorul Hudai bt Abdullah

Abstract

Ammonia is the water's most widespread inorganic pollutant that has negative effects on aquatic life and water
supply. The water industry is facing major challenges in the treatment of pollution using a low-cost treatment
process. In this study, the removal of ammonia in Sungai Panchor was investigated by using two methods of
landscape waste (LW) adsorbents preparation which are non-carbonize LW and carbonize LW. SEM analysis shows
the formation of microporous structure in the adsorbents. EDX analysis reveals the major element for both noncarbonize LW and carbonize LW adsorbents are carbon and oxygen. Results from batch adsorption experiments
show that the non-carbonized LW able to reduce the ammonia from 2.20 mg/L to 1.59 mg/L, with 27.73% removal
using 0.1 g adsorbent dosage. While the carbonize LW able to reduce the ammonia from 2.13 mg/L to 1.19 mg/L,
with 44.13% removal using 0.5 g adsorbent dosage after 4 hours of adsorption. Furthermore, adsorption of a water
sample from Sungai Panchor reveals that the carbonize LW adsorbent had a higher ammonia removal rate of 41%
compared to the non-carbonize LW adsorbent with 36% only. FTIR analysis confirms the functional group of strong
hydroxyl and carboxyl group are responsible for the adsorption process. The water quality index of Sungai Panchor
was classified into class III which required extensive treatment.

Published

2020-03-31

Issue

Section

Articles