PROJECT BACKGROUND

Water is one of the most important natural sources for human and all living things on this planet.
It is the most important resources and a basic requirement for any living things, especially to
human life. Almost all the activities on this planet are required water. In ancient times, clean water
can be obtained from rivers and lakes. Unfortunately, the source of clean water is decreasing,
and it is difficult to obtain due to water pollution that comes from industry, restaurant etc. There
are many places that have been contaminated like rivers and lakes caused by the removal of oil
into it. The situation has become more worst when the company industry disposal the oil into the
river and lake do not have any filtered.

There are many ways to prevent the water pollution and separate oil from oily water at a
low cost. One of the materials that can be used to solve this problem is by using a fiber. Fiber or
dietary fiber is the material that friendly with environmental because it consists of plant cells which
is resistant to hydrolysis (digestion) by the alimentary enzymes’ human[1]. This fiber material is
usually used to fertilize plants so that the plants are fertile. But at the same time, fiber can filter
something because it has a relatively good absorption properties compared to filters using
mechanical mechanisms. Usually, the filter that used by industry to filter oil before it releases to
the river or lake is by using a mechanism of mechanical which is needed high cost to install it and
for its maintenance. So that, the types of materials that using to prevent water pollution is by using
human hair fiber.

Human hair is a type of fiber that many people do not know their specialty in the absorption
method. Human hair has natural properties as absorbent and this can attract engineers to create
a filtration system using human hair as it has a low cost and natural bio adsorbent. Human hair is
tested to prove the sorbent in the aqueous[2].

The purpose of the study is to know the performance and capability of waste human hair
to absorb oil from oily water since the water pollution was widespread nowadays. The
performance of the waste human hair was tested by two types of hair which is man hair and
women hair. The capacity of the two types of hair can shows by experiment so that the hair can
be identified which one has a higher capacity to absorb oil from oily water.
REFERENCES

[1] T. H., “Definition of dietary fiber and hypotheses that it is a protective factor in certain
diseases,” Am. J. Clin. Nutr., no. March, 1976.
[2] F. A. Banat and S. Al-Asheh, “The Use of Human Hair Waste as a Phenol Biosorbent,”
Adsorpt. Sci. Technol., vol. 19, no. 7, pp. 599–608, 2002.