Testing different combination of personal cleaning products against activated carbon for Showerloop shower water purification system

Abstract

The objective of this thesis was to test the effect of different personal cleaning products used in shower on performance of different types of activated carbon used in Showerloop’s filter. There were seven responses measured namely: potassium, chloride, sulfate, phosphate, pH, conductivity and turbidity. Uncertainties were determined from preliminary batch of experiments between Carbsorb 30 activated carbon and shower gel. The second batch of experiments were performed as 4x4 factorial design between four activated carbons and personal cleaning products. The results were analysed by Anovamix in R and the multiple comparisons of means were determined by Tukey tests. The pH values were around 7 and conductivity values were well within the limit for drinking water quality, as for turbidity all the activated carbons reduced turbidity except for Carbsorb 30 against organic soap. Aquasorb Cs added phosphate into the filtrate against all the cleaning products as did Aquacarb 207 c against normal shampoo. Aquacarb 207 c performed similarly to Carbsorb 30 in terms of removing chloride and sulfate except for potassium which Aquacarb 207c, reduced by 6.7% against organic shampoo. Aquasorb 207 c also added potassium against organic shampoo but reduced chloride by 44%. Krausen removed potassium but added chloride by 11% against organic shampoo. Against organic soap, all four activated carbons reduced potassium, chloride and sulfate. For pH, conductivity and turbidity values all four activated carbons performed quite effectively except for turbidity for Carbsorb 30 and Krausen when used against organic soap. Aquacarb 207’s performance for phosphate makes it unsuitable for Showerloop. Krausen and Carbsorb 30 could be the options although, Krausen added ions against normal sham-poo. If the cleaning product is organic, the performance of all the activated carbons is more effective than when used against non-organic products. Cheaper products like Krausen performed quite similarly compared to more expensive products. Future research could be done on interaction effect of responses as well as vulnerability to bacterial growth on activated carbon because of accumulation of nutrients form cleaning products.