Ensaios dinâmicos de biossorção de cobre com macroalgas em leitos-fixos contendo materiais adsorventes de natureza não-biológica

Abstract

Biosorption is the term applied to the adsorption technology of metallic ions in solution than through materials of inactive biological nature. It s close to adsorption using conventional adsorbents. Biosorption depends on temperature, pH, initial concentration of metal ion and type of biosorbents. The main objective of this dissertation is to study and compare the adsorption of copper ions from aqueous solution in batch and continuous system using Sargassum sp.; wet and dehydrated calcium alginate; powder and granular activated carbon. Calcium alginate was prepared by 4% w/v sodium alginate solution dropwise into 37% w/v calcium chloride dehydrate. Calcium alginate presented 89% of moisture after dry in an oven at 100°C for 24 hours. Biosorption parameters were set as follow: dose of adsorbent 2 g/L; temperature at 30°C, pH at 5.0, and stirring speed of the rotating plate at 150 rpm. For the kinetic and equilibrium studies, the tests were done in a batch system. In kinetic assays for two concentrations (0.16 and 3.15 mmol/L) was varied contact time (1-120 min) to reach equilibrium. In equilibrium assays were varied concentrations (0.16 to 15.72 mmol/L) using the time determined in kinetic experiments. It was used two kinetic modeling (the pseudo-first-order and second-order) and two equilibrium modeling (Langmuir and Freundlich). The second-order kinetic model better fitted the results. The equilibrium time for adsorption of copper was 60 minutes for Sargassum sp. and wet and dehydrated calcium alginate pellets. For the activated carbon, equilibrium times for the adsorption of copper were obtained faster, but the capacity of copper removal were extremely low. Based on the unfavorable results obtained for the activated carbon they were discharged to proceed with tests of equilibrium. The Freundlich isotherm fitted the experimental data for Sargassum sp. and wet calcium alginate. The maximum adsorption capacity calculated using Freundlich model: at equilibrium concentration of 11.66 ± 0.06 mmol/L was 1.97 ± 0.07 mmol/g for Sargassum sp. and at equilibrium concentration of 12.12 ± 0.03 mmol/L was 1.69 ± 0.04 mmol/g for wet calcium alginate. Biosorption in a continuous system, with bed heights from 10 to 40 cm, had the best performance with a height of 40 cm. In a batch system, the performance of Sargassum sp. was higher than calcium alginate (wet rather than dehydrated), which in turn were higher than the performance of powder and granular active carbon (powder better than granular). The continuous system with initial copper concentration of 8.5 mmol/L, must be operated with a bed height equal or greater 40 cm, or with multicolumn systems for more concentrated solutions