Estudo analítico utilizando a cortiça como adsorvente natural para avaliar sua eficiência no tratamento de matrizes aquosas.

Abstract

Water is characterized as an essential substance for the maintenance of life in living beings, and it has a significant influence on industrial development, besides being quite abundant on Earth. Considering the importance of water, there is a need to have information on the quality of water consumed, since it is characterized as inappropriate for human consumption, and disagrees with the potability requirements established by the Ministry of Health Ordinance. Because of the scarcity and lack of water resources, the population has used water from sources to survive and develop their activities, such as groundwater and fountains. Resources that minimize contaminants present in water have been sought, so that it can be useful and renewable, as well as the use of natural adsorbents currently used to remove some contaminants present in water, such as the use of cork and its derivatives. Therefore, this study aims to use cork as a natural adsorbent to treat groundwater in the municipality of Baraúna ­ PB, and water from fountains in the municipality of Coronel Ezequiel ­ RN. The present research was carried out at six points: four underground wells points, and two fountain points. Measurements of pH, turbidity, electrical conductivity, hardness, alkalinity, total dissolved solids, chloride content, and identification of sodium and potassium were performed. The chemical composition of natural cork after treatment was analyzed using an Energy Dispersive X­Ray Fluorescence Spectrometer. Among the parameters analyzed before adsorption, only the values obtained in the identification of sodium in samples from Baraúna­PB did not correspond to the maximum value allowed by Consolidation Ordinance Nr. 5/2017 by the Ministry of Health, characterizing the samples as inappropriate for consumption. The adsorbent use proved to be efficient in the treating process of samples because it decreased some studied parameters values, but for the turbidity parameter there was a significant increase in all analyzed samples.