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ABSTRACT
Due to the poor quality of generally available drinking water sources and the obvious lack of adequate centralized systems for delivery of safe water to households in Nigeria, it became expedient to research into low-cost ceramic household biological (Coliform ) in view to provide an affordable and assessable means for citizens to improve their drinking water quality to acceptable standards. This work tends to ascertain the suitability of lignite as organic additive (pore formers) in ceramic clay filter for water purification in comparison with commonly used sawdust.In this study, clay and lateritic soil samples were collected from Igo village near Benin City Edo State, while the Lignite samples were collected from Azagba-ogwashi, Aniocha South Local Government Area of Delta State. Saw dust from hard wood (pore former) and Lateritic soil (flux and plasticity reducer) were collected from Benin City Edo State. The raw materials were weighed and combined in various ratios with some percentage of water to produce a homogenous plastic body. This is well kneaded to remove any available pores in the clay and molded into discs. The various samples were allowed to dry for 4 weeks to remove any free water in the sample and then fired in an electric kiln to a temperature of 900˚C. The average diameter, thickness and weight of the discs are 9.9 cm, 2.4 cm and 332.5g respectively and were designated D1-D6. Flow rates of the fired Discs range from D1 341mL/h – D5 850mL/h.Total Coliform Bacteria Removal Efficiency of the discs ranges from D260.2% - D6 80.1%. Although it is not up to the WHO standard of 0cfu/mL, it is still appreciable. D5 has 10% sawdust, Igo clay and laterite mixed while D6 has 10% lignite. D5 and D6 outperformed the other disc due to their constituents. D5 has a flow rate of 850ml/h and the coliform efficiency removal of 78.5% while D6 has a flow rate of 756ml/h and coliform bacterial efficiency of 80.1%. It is recommended for further work that colloidal silver be added for the formulation of the filter disc as it is a strong anti-bacterial agent in order to improve thecoliform removal efficiency of the filter.
