GREY WATER RECYCLING WITH CORN COB

AS AN ADSORBENT

T Janani
Dr. J.S.Sudarsan
K Prasanna

SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai

 OBJECTIVE

To safely treat domestic sullage water utilizing agricultural wastes and reuse it for
groundwater recharge and irrigation purposes

ADSORPTION

• Adsorption is the adhesion of atoms, ions or molecules from a gas, liquid or dissolved
solid to a surface.

• High abrasion resistance, high thermal stability and small pore diameters, which
results in higher exposed surface area.

• Commonly used industrial adsorbents are silica gel, zeolites, activated carbon,
graphite and other synthetic resins.
 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 waste water.

Advantages of Corncobs:-

• Simple
• Cheap Technology
• Efficient
• Porous
• Cost effective
• Easy to Use
• Eco-friendly
• No Maintenance
• Feasible
• No Operational Skill
• High mechanical strength
• Not edible
• Locally Available
• AN AGRICULTURAL WASTE.
• Reusable
 COLLECTION OF SAMPLE

Sullage water was collected from an apartment in Ashok Nagar.

Various sources of grey water are:

• Bathroom grey water

• Laundry grey water
• Kitchen grey water
Bathroom grey water

• 1 liter sample collected

• water from wash basins and shower
• Contaminated with hair, soaps, shampoo, toothpaste

Kitchen grey water

• 2 liters of sample collected

• Water from sinks
• Consists food particles, cooking oils, grease, dish washing powders

Laundry grey water

• 2 liters of sample collected

• Contaminated with oils, soaps, sweat and associated bacteria
 WATER FILTER

• First layer : Gravel for support

• Second Layer: Fine sand
• Third layer: Powdered corn cobs
• Fourth Layer :Activated Carbon
• Fifth Layer : Small pieces of corn cobs
• Sixth Layer : Longitudinal sections of cobs.

Geotextile cloth is used as a spacer and to aid in uniform filtration

FIRST LAYER - GRAVEL

• Any filter needs a base support

• The material chosen for this filter was 20mm sized gravel.

• One kg of clean gravel is placed in the filter on top of a

geo textile cloth.

• The gravel layer must be uniformly spread

SECOND LAYER – FINE SAND

• Sand is well known medium used in sewage treatment

plants to treat highly contaminated sewage.

• The impurities get trapped in the voids of soil particles

• A geotextile cloth is placed over the layer of gravel.

• One kilogram of fine sand laid over the geotextile cloth

and tamped well.

THIRD LAYER – POWDERED CORN COBS

• The dried corn cubs were broken into small pieces

and ground mechanically.
• The powdered corn cobs must be washed well and
dried
• One kilogram of powder is layered uniformly with
constant tamping.
• Place a geotextile cloth over the layer.
FOURTH LAYER – ACTIVATED CARBON

• Any water filter is incomplete without activated

carbon
• Available in many forms granular activated
carbon is chosen.
• The carbon must be washed well to remove the
ash content
• Placed uniformly over the geotextile cloth and
spread in all directions.
• A geotextile cloth is placed over it.
FIFTH LAYER – SMALL PIECES OF COBS

• Long corn cobs are broken into smaller pieces of

length 5 to 8 centimeters.
• One kilogram of the broken corn cobs are placed
over a geotextile cloth.
• Care must be taken to ensure there are no spaces
between two pieces of cobs.
SIXTH LAYER - LONGITUDINAL SECTIONS OF COBS

• Long pieces of corn cobs are cut longitudinally.

• A hammer is used to longitudinally section the

dried corn cobs.

• The longitudinal sections must also be cleaned

with water and dried.

• One kilogram of this is weighed and spread over

the geotextile cloth that overlies a layer of broken
cobs.
INITIAL TRIAL
CORN COB FILTER
 TESTING OF FILTRATE
• About 1 liter of water was collected from the kitchen sink and mixed with

another liter of water collected from baths and laundry.

• This pale orange colored liquid was then poured through the top of the filter

in constant rate of flow.

• A detention period of 10 minutes was maintained after which the inlet water

was collected in the bottom tank.

• The time taken for complete filtration was 15 minutes.

• The filtrate collected was visibly clear.

 RESULTS
ph
Anionic surfactants
9.5
1
9
0.8
mg/L

8.5
0.6

mg/L
8
0.4
7.5
0.2
7
0
before after
before after
Stage of filtration
Stage of filtration

Chlorides
Nitrogen
800
700 35
600 30
25
mg/L

500

mg/L
400 20
300 15
200 10
100 5
0 0

before after before after

Stage of filtration Stage of filtration
 RESULTS
TDS
1600
SUSPENDED SOLIDS
1400 30
1200 25
mg/L
1000
20

mg/L
800
600 15
400 10
200
5
0
0
before after
before after
Stage of filtration
Stage of filtration

BOD COD
160 800
140 700
120 600
mg/L

100

mg/L
500
80 400
60 300
40 200
20 100
0 0

before after before after

Stage of filtration Stage of filtration
 COMPARISON

Concentration of Parameters PERCENTAGE

1600 PARAMETERS DIFFERENCE
1400

1200
Ph 15.47 % INCREASE
Concentration (mg/L)

1000
Anionic Surfactants 31.9% DECREASE

800
Chlorides 52.2% DECREASE
600
Nitrogen 35.4% DECREASE
400
TDS 39.9% DECREASE
200
SS 35.7% DECREASE
0
pH AS Chlorides Nitrogen TDS SS BOD COD
BOD 36.9% DECREASE
Parameters
Before After

COD 67% DECREASE

 CONCLUSION

• Thus wastewater is treated with agricultural wastes to be used for irrigation,

groundwater recharge and other indoor uses.

• The contaminated sullage water after treatment with the corn cob filter is now
suitable for land disposal, groundwater recharge or other indoor uses.

• Thus utilizing waste to treat and reuse sullage water is a step towards Sustainable
development.
REFERENCES
• Fehintola EO, Amono JS, Obijole OA, Oke IA (2015 a). 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.

• Bennett E.R. and Linstedt K.D."Individual Home Wastewater Characterization and Treatment".

• Nada AMA, Mahdy AA, El-Gendy AA(2009). Cationic exchangers from corn cobs.

• Parmar HS, Patel JB, Sudhakar P, Koshy VJ (2006). Removal of Flu from from water with powdered
Corn Cobs.

• Ismail A, Side DB, Joke IA, Otun JA, Olarinoye NO, Luk man S, Okuofu CA (2009).

• Kato M, Kudo S, Hattori T. (1998), Bull. Chem. Soc. Japan,

• Muchlisyam, Harahap U, Silalahi J, Alfian Z (2013), Binding ability of corn cobs hemicellulose toward
Cadmium.
THANK YOU!