Production of coconut oil, the second top agricultural export of the Philippines, generates large amounts of waste, including coconut husks, shells, and coconut water. Since waste coconut water is acidic (pH 4.7 to 5.2) and has high organic matter (BOD: 13,000 - 15,000 mg/L and COD: 40,000 mg/L), it poses notable risks to the environment. Extraction of plant growth regulators or phytohormones, a high-value product from coconut water, can be a great way to utilize the waste. Phytohormones serve as “multivitamins” that improve plant seedling survival, increase crop yield, and improve crop harvest quality. For this study, coffee husk will be used as feedstock for biochar production due to its low-cost, abundance, and high carbonaceous contents including cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. This paper evaluates the potential of chemically activated biochar derived from waste coffee husks via pyrolysis for the extraction of phytohormones from waste coconut water. The chemical activation conditions are optimized using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) to achieve maximum phytohormone adsorption efficiency. For the parametric study, the phytohormone removal efficiency of the activated biochar ranges from 91.37% to 97.12%. Results from the parametric study show that the model and factor (NaOH-to-biochar ratio) are significant, with a p-value of 0.0009. Future work includes flask adsorption experiments and using the phytohormone content extracted from the coconut water for tissue culture studies. The study contributes to the waste management processes of the coconut and coffee processing industries.

Adsorption of phytohormones from waste coconut water using activated biochar derived from coffee husk

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