Uso de adsorvente natural proveniente da semente de acerola como alternativa para tratamento de águas subterrâneas.

Abstract

Lately, water has become a limited resource, with its exaggerated consumption for the most diverse uses combined with its contamination caused by the release of waste affecting not only its availability but also its potability. With increasing contamination of water by various pollutants, which makes this resource increasingly scarce and unfit for use, there is a need to develop new treatment methods that are accessible, efficient, renewable and do not produce polluting waste that degrades the environment. Due to this the use of natural adsorbents has become one of the most investigated alternatives for the treatment of waters whether for the removal of organic or inorganic pollutants. This work aims to study the adsorption potential of a natural adsorbent from acerola seed by means of column chromatography to adjust the total hardness of groundwater after the characterization of physicochemical parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity, Turbidity, total dissolved solids, chlorides, alkalinity and total hardness. The adsorbent samples before and after being used for the treatment were characterized by infrared absorption spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The use of the natural adsorbent obtained from the acerola seed was very effective for the treatment of hardness of the analyzed samples presenting a similar efficiency with the synthetic adsorbent (Zeolite A) that was used for comparison.