University of the Philippines Theses about extraction of phytohormones from waste

coconut water using agricultural residues derived biochar

Extraction of phytohormones from waste coconut water by adsorption using coconut-shell-

derived granular activated carbon by Ellison E. Borbo

Abstract:

The performance of coconut-shell-derived granular activated carbon (CSD-AC) as an adsorbent

for the extraction of phytohormones from waste coconut water was investigated in batch and
continuous column adsorption experiments. Parameters useful for scale up were then obtained
and the performance was compared with that of a commercially available resin studied by
Magboo (2015). Batch adsorption experiments revealed that the adsorption follows a Freundlich
isotherm with favorable physisorption and an equilibration time of 1 hour. The adsorbent had an
effective loading of 200 g/L and an actual maximum adsorption capacity of 14.58 mL/g. Results
from column adsorption experiments showed that higher flow rates tend to reduce the column
adsorption capacity due to shorter contact time. A desirable flow rate configuration of 6.22
mL/min with corresponding linear velocity of 1.23 cm/min was chosen for complete adsorption
and desorption runs. Relative volumetric loadings of 3.41 and of 1.22 for adsorption and
desorption respectively, and a relative maximum adsorption capacity of 4.6 mL/g were obtained.
Ethanol extracts from all adsorption experiments were confirmed to have IAA, GA3 and kinetin.
CSD-AC was found to be a good adsorbent for phytohormone extraction from waste coconut
water, although at a lower performance compared to commercially available resin. But because
of the extremely high cost of the resin, CSD-AC can be considered a more cost-effective
alternative.

Extraction of phytohormones from waste coconut water by adsorption using cacao pod husk-
derived activated carbon by Shiela Mae Aldover

Abstract:

Cacao pod husk is an agricultural by-product generated from the processing of the cacao fruit
which have very limited use in the industry. In order to address the issue about the solid waste
management of this by-product, its use as an adsorbent for the extraction of phytohormones
present in waste coconut water was studied. The adsorption phenomena between the cacao pod
husk-derived activated carbon (CPH-derived AC) and the phytohormones was studied by
performing batch adsorption experiments where it was determined that the system follows the
Freundlich isotherm with a favorable adsorption and an effective adsorbent loading of 200 g/L,
equilibration time of 90 minutes and an actual maximum adsorption of 6.27 mL/g. Improvement
on the adsorption capacity of the CPH-derived AC was also done by subjecting the activated
carbon through surface modification using HNO3 as treatment solution. The optimum
concentration of the treatment solution that would result to the highest increase in the amount of
phytohormone adsorbed and amount of acidic surface functional group formed was also
determined to be at 1.64 M. The effect of surface modification on the CPH-derived AC was
determined by performing batch adsorption experiments on the surface modified CPH-derived
AC-phytohormone system. The result showed that the system follows the Langmuir isotherm of
favorable adsorption with an effective adsorbent loading of 160 g/L, equilibration time of 45
minutes and an actual maximum adsorption capacity of 11.75 mL/g. Based on these results,
surface modification using HNO3 treatment solution at 1.64 M increased the actual maximum
adsorption capacity of the CPH-derived AC by 87.55%, proving that surface modification
increased the phytohormone adsorption of the activated carbon. The presence of the
phytohormone in the ethanol extracts can be confirmed by performing Thin Layer
Chromatography (TLC) or High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC).

To better understand the nature of phytohormones, a brief description of their physicochemical

properties and crosstalk mechanism were provided in the study.