Removal of Iron from Groundwater by Filtration through Carbonaceous Shale

The project covers a study on the topic entitled "Removal of Iron from Groundwater by
Filtration through Carbonaceous Shale". Generally speaking, Iron is commonly present
in groundwater worldwide. The presence of iron in groundwater is not harmful to human
health, however it is undesirable because of the associated aesthetic and operational
problem, namely: bad taste, discoloration, stains on laundry and plumbing system and
after-growth in the distribution system. Iron present in soluble ferrous form in
groundwater oxidizes into insoluble ferric iron when exposed to the atmosphere. Iron
removal from groundwater is, therefore, a major concern for water supply companies
using groundwater. The objective of this study is to determine the effectiveness of
carbonaceous shale in removing iron from groundwater by adsorption-oxidation
mechanism and also the backwashing system for the filter. The scope of work consists of
literature review, experimental design, laboratory set up, experiments and results
analysis. The methods and procedures to achieve the objectives involve analyses of
chemical parameters of groundwater used in the experiments including the properties of
carbonaceous shale and also filtration performance of carbonaceous shale. Laboratoryscale
colnnm experiments were conducted using 31 mm diameter acrylic column pipes
with 1.0 m depth of 1.0 mm mean size and having 70 em depth of filter media. The
filtration performance of the carbonaceous shale was compare with the sand that works
like a 'benchmark' since it is been widely used in the conventional method for iron
removal. Both filtration media that been used act as adsorbent of ferrous iron in filtration
column. Results from the experiment shows that the concentration of total iron in the
groundwater used in the experiment is 2.36 mg/L Fe and that the performance of
carbonaceous shale filter is better than sand filter in the iron removal. Iron concentration
in the effluent of carbonaceous shale filter is below standard for drinking water which is
0.3 mg/L.