Produção de adsorventes utilizando resíduo de cajá (Spondias mombin L.) para o tratamento de disruptores endócrinos.

Abstract

For some time, research has warned of the damage that endocrine disrupters can cause to ecosystems. Among the existing solutions for the reduction of levels of this type contamination are the adsorption processes using activated carbons. Based on this, this study aimed to produce, characterize and adsorb the dichlorophenoxyacetic acid in activated carbon, from the residual biomass of cajá (Spondias mombin L.). The biomass of cajá (Spondias mombin L.) was analysed under the physical-chemical and structural aspects. For the production of activated carbon, a factorial design 23 was performed in complete composition, with 3 replications of the central point, totalling 11 experiments. Several analyses were carried out in order to know the charcoal characteristics and to choose the best one for the adsorption tests. At the end, the coals presented high surface areas with predominance of mesopores, low density, pH of zero load around 6.88 with predominance of acid groups, being chosen for the adsorption test the C10 coal. The adsorption tests were carried out at concentrations of 1.00 mg.L-1, 200.00 mg.L-1 and 500.00 mg.L-1, by diluting a commercial herbicide containing dichlorophenoxyacetic acid in deionized water, and adding 20 mL of these solutions with 20 mg of activated charcoal under agitation at 100 rpm at 25 °C for 24 hours. The quantifications of 2,4-D concentrations were performed by means of UV/Vis, with readings performed at 289 nm. For kinetics, the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms were used, as well as the kinetic models of pseudo-first order and pseudo-second order, Elovich and intraparticle diffusion. The activated carbon adsorbed 84.40 % of the concentration of 1.00 mg.L-1, 65.34% of the concentration of 200.00 mg.L-1 and 26.76 % of the concentration of 500.00 mg.L-1. For the adsorption isotherms, the processes were adjusted as favourable, indicating a homogeneous coal. In the adsorption kinetics, the pseudo- second order and Elovich models adjusted satisfactorily for the concentrations of 1.00 mg.L-1 and 200.00 mg.L-1, with R2 = 0.97 and 0.98 respectively. In general, this study is extremely important, as it evidenced in practice the potential of activated biomass of cajá biomass (S. mombin L.) in adsorbing relevant amounts of the 2,4-D endocrine disruptor in aqueous media.