Produção de carvão ativado a partir de endocarpo de coco para aplicação em processo de adsorção da dipirona.

Abstract

The scarcity of natural resources caused by environmental degradation has been alerting researchers to the importance of developing new ways to promote environmental preservation. The high rate of emerging contaminants such as drugs and endocrine disruptors present in treated effluents indicates the need to evaluate the treatment procedures adopted by the Effluent Treatment Stations to remove these substances. Dipyrone is one of the most consumed drugs in Brazil, due to the fact that its commercialization is allowed without a medical prescription, increasing the excretion rate of this substance in domestic sewage and surface waters. This study aims to produce activated charcoal out of coconut endocarp with different types of reactors and activating agents, in order to perform adsorption tests with the charcoals produced to remove dipyrone in a 50 mg/L solution. The characterization of the charcoal’s porous structure carried out with the aid of a Microporosimeter (MICROMERITICS) showed that the procedure adopted for the production of activated charcoal is quite efficient, considering that all the coals produced had surface areas greater than 800 m² / g. In the adsorption tests, it could be noted that the charcoal activated with CO2 and produced in a microwave oven is able to completely remove the dipyrone in just 90 minutes of adsorption. Analyzing the adsorption isotherms, it is clear that the produced activated charcoal represents better the Langmuir model. Regarding the adsorption kinetics, the produced charcoals follow the pseudo-second order kinetic model.