International Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences IJBAS-IJENS Vol:12 No:06

125

The use of Indrayanti Beach Sand and Coconut Shell

Carbon as Absorbents in Selokan Mataram Canal
Water Filtration System
Suparno, Subuhul Fathir Rajabun Na'im, Unangalim Ardhiyadi, Widya Gusta, Lien Permatasari
Abstract -- An investigation on the use of Indrayanti beach sand
and coconut shell carbon as absorbents in water filtration system
is reported. This environmentally friendly research is aimed to
clean dirty S elokan Mataram canal water which is extremely
important for agriculture, fish farm and tourism. Dirty S elokan
Mataram canal water was filtered by using Indrayanti beach sand
and coconut shell carbon as absorbents in ion exchange columns.
The treated water was placed in a transparent container and shot
by using a laser beam. The light transmission intensity was then
observed by using a luxmeter. The cleanliness of the filtrated
water was determined by comparing this intensity to the
transmission intensity of the clean tap water to obtain light
transmission intensity efficiency. The results show that the
efficiency of light transmission intensity decreases with the
increase of the volume of dirty water. On the contrary the light
transmission efficiency increases with the increase of mass of
absorbent. For both cases, the data show that coconut shell carbon
absorbs dirty water better compared to the Indrayanti beach sand.

Index Term

absorbent, filtration, Indrayanti beach sand,

coconut shell carbon

I.
INTRODUCTION
Selokan Mataram is an irrigation canal approximately 50km
long connecting two main rivers in Yogyakarta, Indones ia
which are Progo and Opak. The ups tream of this canal is a dam
on Progo river. The dam is built to collect huge amount of
water. It is located at the foothill of Merapi volcano. The water
flows through Selokan Mataram canal to the downs tream on
Opak river. The water is mos tly us ed for rice field and fis h farm
irrigation. An ins pection s treet was built along the s ide of the
canal as the main acces s for ins pection and maintenance. Many
local and international touris ts make us ed of this ins pection
s treet to ride bicycle to enjoy panoramic view of Yogyakarta. It
takes only an hour bicycle ride by this ins pection s treet from
Yogyakarta to the mos t famous Hindu's temple in Indones ia,
Prambanan. Many tourists take advantage of this canal, since
there are a lot of other 8th 9th temples located close to this
canal.

Sup ar n o
Depart ment of Physics Educa tion
Facult y of Mathematics and Science, Yogyakart a State Universit y
Awarded with PhD degree by the University of South Australia 2002 and
currently working with Yogyakarta Stat e Universit y, Indonesia. Email:
suparno2000@yahoo.com

Unfortunately, due to s evere eros ion Selokan Mataram water

looks very dirty. This can be s een from the color of the water,
which is clos e to light brown. This s ituation is wors ens by the
bad habit of the people living along the canal. Many of them
throw their s olid domes tic and agriculture was te to the canal.
This caus es the water flow through the s econdary canal to be
blocked in many places . The contamination of the Selokan
Mataram water has reached a level which cannot be tolerated.
Thous ands of people working on rice planting and fis h farming
s uffer from it. Dirty view and bad s mell of Selokan Mataram is
an obvious threat to touris m indus try. An urgent and s mart s tep
has to be made to save Selokan Mataram canal.
On one hand the bad habit of local people throwing their
domes tic and agriculture was te mus t be s top by s ocializing the
law that ban people from throwing anything to the canal. The
government may us e local news paper, radio and televis ion to
promote the importance of living in a clean and healthy
environment. People's awarenes s of the importance of keeping
Selokan Mataram clean and green has to be rais ed. They s hould
be made unders tood that dis obedience to the environmental law
results in severe penalty and punishment.
On the other hand, the erosion of dirt and other contaminant
may be overcome by implementing a proper filtration s ys tem.
Solution of dirt and contaminant in water may be regarded as
relatively s table colloid dis pers ion.[1]-[2] The micrometer s ize
of colloidal dirt and contaminant may be meas ured us ing
Dynamic Light Scattering.[3]-[5] Ions from minerals dis pers ed
along with the dirt in the water may caus e electros tatic s tability
of the s olution.[1]-[2] The charge of dis pers ed dirt and
contaminant may be determined us ing various techniques .[6][9] It is the dis pers ion of dirt and other contaminant particles
that als o change the color of water from clean to light brown.
The removal of thes e dis pers ed particles from the water may
caus e the water to be clean. This may be achieved in two ways .
The firs t way is by introdu cing a coagulating or s edimentation
agent [10] into the water s ource in the dam. The dirt and other
contaminants will be coagulated. The coagulation of the dirt
and other contaminant is finally followed by s edimentation.
Cleaner water may flow from the dam through Selokan
Mataram canal from the dam to the downs tream. However this
can be very expens ive s ince a huge amount of coagulating
agent should be put in the dam now and then. This will be more

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International Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences IJBAS-IJENS Vol:12 No:06

II.

THE PERFORM ANCE OF INDRAYANTI BEACH SAND AS

A BSORBENT
Figure 1 s hows five s ets of five data each taken by us ing
Indrayanti beach s and as abs orbent. The firs t s et of s ample
cons is ting of 0.5l, 1.0l, 1.5l, 2.0l, and 2.5l of Selokan Mataram
water (SM water) was filtered using 2 grams of sand each. The

s econd s et of 0.5l, 1.0l, 1.5l, 2.0l, and 2.5l of SM water was

filtered us ing 4 grams of s and each. The s ame s teps were done
us ing 6, 8, and 10 grams of s and. The data s how that the light
trans mis s ion efficiencies tend to increas e with the increas e of
the mass of sand. For 2.5liters of SM water the light
trans mis s ion efficiency increas es from 83% to 88%. This means
that the increas e of the mas s of s and res ults in the cleaner water.
This may be eas ily unders tood, s ince the increas e of the mas s of
s and means the increas e of the number of pores to trap more
dirt and contaminant. However it s hould be noted that the 5
times increas e of the mas s of s and res ults in only 5 percents
increase in light transmission efficiency.

100
95
90

Light Transmission Efficiency

(%)

cos tly during rainy s eas on where the water from the hill bring a
lot of dirt due to erosion.
The second way is using water filtration system. This water
filtration s ys tem is fitted at the s luice gate of the dam and s ome
other location to abs orb the dirt in the flowing water. This may
res ult in cleaner water flowing through Selokan Mataram canal.
However a cheaper and eas ier to find abs orbent has to be found
for long term implementation of water filtration s ys tem in
Selokan Mataram canal.
An umbrella res earch has been done by a group of res earcher at
the Yogyakarta State Univers ity lead by Suparno, Ph.D. to find
the bes t abs orbent for Selokan Mataram water filtration s ys tem.
At this s tage various kinds of s and and carbon has been
inves tigated. Some of the res ults of the inves tigation are
reported in this paper.
A relatively simple technique has been implemented in this
res earch. A certain mas s of chos en abs orbent is put in an ion
exchange column and the dirty water is poured on top of the
abs orbent. The water flows from the top part of the abs orbent to
the bottom. The dirt in the water may be trapped in the pores
and s ome of them may be ads orbed on to the s urface of the
abs orbent leaving the water to be cleaner. Indrayanti beach s and
and coconut s hell carbon have been chos en not only due to its
porosity, but als o its amp le availability. The s and may be
collected at no cos t and the coconut s hell may be found eas ily
as was te products . Note that Indrayanti beach is located in the
southern part of Yogyakarta province of Indonesia.
The cleanlines s of the water is tes ted by us ing a home-made
light trans mis s ion intens ity tes ting unit. This unit cons is ts of a
light s ource, two parallel pinholes , a trans parent s ample
container, another pinhole and a luxmeter which are s et in
order. Clean tap water was firs t placed in the s ample con tainer
and the light trans mis s ion intens ity is recorded. This water was
then replaced by the various treated water and the trans mitted
intens ity are recorded. Thes e recorded trans mitted intens ities
were then compared to that of clean water to obtain light
trans mis s ion efficiency. The firs t group of data were taken
from 25 s amples cons is ting of five s ets of 0.5l, 1.0, 1.5l, 2.0l,
and 2.5l of Selokan Mataram (SM) water. Each s et of s amples
was filtered by us ing 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 gram of Indrayanti
beach s and. The s econd group of data were taken from the
s ame s ets of s amples and filtered us ing coconut s hell carbon
with the s ame variables . Each s et of data was analyzed and
compared to other s ets of the s ame group. Finally the two
groups compared to each other.

126

85
80
75
70
0.5 l SM water
1.5 l SM water
2.5 l SM water

65

1 l SM water
2 l SM water

60
2

10

Mass of Absorbent (g)

Figure 1. Light Transmisson Efficiency Profile due to Filtration Using

Indrayanti Beach Sand

For s amples which were filtered by us ing 2 grams of s and, the

increas e of volume of SM water reduces of light trans mis s ion
efficiency from 90% to 83%. This means that the total capacity
of the pores to trap the dirt and contaminant reduces with the
increase of the volume of SM water.
III.
THE PERFORM ANCE OF COCONUT SHELL CARBON
Coconut shell carbon has been used in various applications not
only for environmental reasons [11]-[14], but also for medical
health purpose.[15]-[17] It has also been used as sedimentation
agent in water purification system.[10] In some part of
Indonesia traditionally carbon is used to absorb the bad small
coming out of the dead body.
Figure 2 presents comparable data to those of Figure 1 except
data in Figure 2 were taken us ing coconut s hell carbon as
abs orbent. The data s how that the light trans mis s ion efficiencies
tend to increas e with the increas e of the mas s of coconut s hell
carbon. For 2.5liters of SM water the light trans mis s ion
efficiency increas es from 89% to 93%. This means that the
increase of the mas s of carbon caus es the increase in the
cleanliness of the water. This is quite logical since the increase

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International Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences IJBAS-IJENS Vol:12 No:06

100

the Indrayanti beach sand should be used to clean Selokan

Mataram dirty water.

100

Light Transmission Efficiency (%)

of the amount of carbon means the increas e of the number of

pores to trap more dirt and contaminant. However it s hould be
underlined that the 5 times increas e of the mas s of carbon
results in only 4 percents increas e in light trans mis sion
efficiency.
For s amples which were filtered by us ing 2 grams of carbon,
the increase of volume of SM water reduces of lig ht
trans mis s ion efficiency from 95% to 89%. This means that
more dirt and contaminant left in the SM water with the
increase in the volume of SM water.

127

95
90
85
80
75
70

0.5l SM water (Carbon)

1.5l SM water (Carbon)
2.5l SM water (Carbon)
1l SM water (sand shore)
2l SM water (sand shore)

65
95

1l SM water (Carbon)
2l SM water (Carbon)
0.5l SM water (sand shore)
1.5l SM water (sand shore)
2.5l SM water (sand shore)

60

Light Transmission Efficiency

(%)

90

10

Mass of Absorbent (g)

85

Figure 3. Comparison of Light Transmission Efficiency Profile due to Filtration

Using Indrayanti Beach Sand and Coconut Shell Activated
Carbon

80
75
70
0.5l SM water
1.5l SM water
2.5l SM water

65

1l SM water
2l SM water

60
2

10

Mass of Absorbent (g)

Figure 2. Light Transmission Efficiency Profile due to Filtration Using Coconut

Shell Activated Carbon

IV.

COM PARISON BETWEEN INDRAYANTI BEACH SAND

AND COCONUT SHELL CARBON
Figure 3 presents the comp arison of light trans mis sion
efficiency through SM water that has been filtered us ing
Indrayanti beach s and and coconut s hell carbon. The empty
bullets repres ent the collected data by us ing coconut s hell
carbon as abs orbent and the filled bullets repres ent thos e of
us ing Indrayanti beach s and. Figure 3 s hows that both groups of
data s how the s ame trend. The light trans mis s ion efficiency
increas es with the increas e of the mas s of s and or carbon. This
means that the cleanlines s of the water increas e with the
increas e of the mas s of abs orbent. However, almos t all data
points collected us ing carbon are higher compared to thos e of
us ing s and. This means that coconut s hell carbon has been
functioning better as abs orbent of Selokan Mataram water
compared to Indrayanti beach sand.
From physicist point of view it is coconut shell carbon that
s hould us ed to filter the dirty Selokan Mataram water. People
s hould be encourage to recycle coconut s hell was te products to
become coconut s hell carbon. However mas s and long term
us ed of carbon more cos tly compared to s and. A compromis e
between thes e two abs orbents may be the bes t way to choos e. In
areas having exces s ive amount of coconut s hell was te products ,
the coconut s hell carbon s hould be us ed as abs orbent. Whereas
in areas having limited amount of coconut shell waste products,

V. CONCLUSION
Indrayanti beach s and and coconut s hell carbon s how relatively
good performance as abs orbent of dirt and contaminant
dis pers ed in Selokan mataram water. Coconut s hell carbon
s hows better res ults than Indrayanti beach s and. However, it
may be best to compromis e the use of both of them as
abs orbent of Selokan Mataram water in different areas , s ince
mas s and long term us e of coconut s hell carbon cos t much more
expensive than Indrayanti beach sand.
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Dosen Pembimbing I

Dosen Penguji I

Suparno, Ph.D
NIP. 19600814 198803 1 003

R.Yosi Aprian Sari, M.Si

NIP. 19730407 200604 1 001

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