Hi Lorenzo, thanks for the question. Many activated carbons are produced from coconut shell. Similarly, biochar can be produced from coconut shell for adsorption applications. The caveat with coconut-shell-based carbons is that they tend to be very microporous (to the exclusion of a range of pore sizes). This is advantageous for removing trace contaminants from waters with low concentration of background dissolved organic matter (DOM). However, waters with significant amounts of background DOM can foul coconut carbons quickly, limiting their utility for trace contaminant removal. So coconut biochar could work well or poorly depending upon the background water characteristics. (Sorry for the "maybe yes, maybe no" answer.)
We're currently working on surrogate indicators of biochar bed life that can be monitored in the field relatively inexpensively. This is all very recent research and it will be coming out in the peer reviewed literature over the next several months, and appearing in summary form in forthcoming book chapter sections. This should provide a means for evaluating the efficacy treatment systems using biochar made from coconut and a variety of other materials. Given the complexity of adsorption processes unfortunately there is not one simple answer to questions such as "will coconut shell biochar work for my water?" But we hope to provide people means for evaluating questions such as this in their specific circumstances.
Is charcoal from coconut shell will work for the filtration? We have plenty of coconut shell charcoal in our place and I even producing it.
Hi Lorenzo, thanks for the question. Many activated carbons are produced from coconut shell. Similarly, biochar can be produced from coconut shell for adsorption applications. The caveat with coconut-shell-based carbons is that they tend to be very microporous (to the exclusion of a range of pore sizes). This is advantageous for removing trace contaminants from waters with low concentration of background dissolved organic matter (DOM). However, waters with significant amounts of background DOM can foul coconut carbons quickly, limiting their utility for trace contaminant removal. So coconut biochar could work well or poorly depending upon the background water characteristics. (Sorry for the "maybe yes, maybe no" answer.)
We're currently working on surrogate indicators of biochar bed life that can be monitored in the field relatively inexpensively. This is all very recent research and it will be coming out in the peer reviewed literature over the next several months, and appearing in summary form in forthcoming book chapter sections. This should provide a means for evaluating the efficacy treatment systems using biochar made from coconut and a variety of other materials. Given the complexity of adsorption processes unfortunately there is not one simple answer to questions such as "will coconut shell biochar work for my water?" But we hope to provide people means for evaluating questions such as this in their specific circumstances.