Summary: | Conventional sand is commonly used in water and wastewater treatment as filter media. However, such effective media may fully or partially replace agro-based materials for less critical applications, including stormwater quality control. This paper highlights the potential use of carbonized coconut shells (CS) as efficient filter media, tested on synthetic and actual stormwater. Three media configurations were used: fully river sand (RS) (100%) as a control, half RS and CS (50%:50%), and CS (100%). The RS has the highest average for TSS removal (99.2%), albeit the combined 50% RS and CS achieved higher peak TSS removal (99.6%). However, 100% CS also showed considerable (98.1%) TSS removal. When tested with actual stormwater, the 50% RS and CS demonstrate substantial improvement in TSS and turbidity from Class II to Class I (NWQS). The findings also highlight the influence of porosity with the combined media configurations on the filter performance, with small-size filter grains less porous being more effective than larger ones in removing pollutants. © Legal Deposit 1266-2002.
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