UNS — Through the Student Creativity Program in Exact Science Research (PKM-PE), three students of Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta examine the potential of water purification (water remediation) in Bengawan Solo Tributaries, which contaminated with hazardous batik dye waste. The result shows that a Nanotechnology known as carbon nitride nano-sheet can overcome the waste problem and remediates river water. The students are Huwaida Ikbar, Muhammad Hakim Muzakky, and Harry Pramudya Rivelino from the Chemical Engineering Study Program, Faculty of Engineering (FT) UNS.
Huwaida Ikbar explains that carbon nitride nano-sheet is a thin material with less than 100 nanometers in size. “Based on our literature review, this material can restore the clarity of the water contaminated by organic dye waste up to 100% with the help of sunlight. Chemicals such as rhodamine B, methylene blue, methanol yellow, tartrazine, and methyl orange,” Huwida reveals to uns.ac.id, Friday (20/11/2020).
Current research shows that, even though it has a high effectivity, this material can be synthesized in a simple and environmentally friendly way. Other than that, this material can be obtained easily. “The use of carbon nitride nano-sheet in the aquatic environment is quite safe, considering that its carbon-nitride consists of carbon and nitrogen without any harmful metallic elements,” he explains.
The research conducted by Huwaida and the team is motivated by the lack of batik coloring waste management in Surakarta. As publicly known, Surakarta is one of the cities with the highest batik production and the greatest batik artisans with 254 artists, where 200 resides in Laweyan Sub-District. However, the lack of wastewater management installation and the lack of environmental impact study leads to direct disposal of coloring wastewater from small and medium batik industry to the rivers.
“Because the waste of coloring water is made of non-biodegradable toxic organic compounds, river pollution is unavoidable. Pollution caused by wastewater is not only dangerous for aquatic life such as fish and aquatic plants but also causing mutagenic cases in humans,” Huwaida states.
The team hopes that carbon nitride nano-sheet can be implemented not only to restore water clarity in Bengawan Solo tributaries but also to restore the sustainability of the river ecosystem. Humas UNS
Reporter: Kaffa Hidayati
Editor: Dwi Hastuti
