Estudo da otimização da secagem de casca de ovo: desenvolvimento de um adsorvente.

Abstract

The eggshell is an abundant waste in our country and it can be used alternatively for a variety of purposes, from calcium supplementation in the diet, until the development of bioadsorventes of calcium carbonate from the same. In the development of an adsorbent from that material, the drying operation is performed which is influenced by several factors. In this context, the present work aimed to draw and to evaluate the drying profile of eggshells in order to use it as an adsorbent in the pharmaceutical industry and/or food, clarifying which parameters best influence on the drying of the same. The shells were obtained from The university residence of Federal University of Campina Grande,campus Cuité, previously dried of natura form, they were milled and separated by particle size, then subjected to drying in the furnace from an experimental model in duplicate, based on a factorial planning 23, having as variables to be analyzed, the sample mass (2g and 4g), temperature (200ºC and 400ºC) and particle size (major and minor). The results obtained were subjected to statistical treatment in Software Statistica ® allowing to obtention the dependence of the response of the mass of lost water, and it can be observed that the temperature and the mass of the sample, as well as the interaction between these variables were statistically significant. On other hand, the size of particle, as well as the interaction of this variable with the others, were not statistically significant in this study. The results were satisfactory, the experiments were positively adequate to the statistical model and showed relevant reproducibility.