Carnauba straw powder treated with bentonite for copper adsorption in aqueous solution: isothermal, kinetic and thermodynamic study.

In this work, the natural and modified carnauba powder from the addition of bentonite was evaluated for the adsorption of Cu(II) ions in synthetic solution. The results showed that the carnauba powder treated with bentonite (CPTB) showed a better percentage of removal of Cu(II) ions when compared to natural carnauba powder (NCP). The best results for both adsorbents were obtained with pH 5. The adsorption kinetics was governed by the pseudo-second-order model for both bioadsorbents studied. While the isothermal behavior was governed by the Langmuir model and showed that the adsorption capacity of the CPTB for Cu(II) was 21.98 mg·g-1. The interaction of the metal and CPTB was also investigated by means of thermodynamic parameters showing that the adsorption process is not spontaneous, although the values of ΔG° decrease with the increase in temperature from 20 to 40 °C and endothermic causing an increase in the degree of disorder at the solid/liquid interface. The results showed that the CPTB is a material with potential adsorbent for the removal of copper ions.

Integration of processes induced air flotation and photo-Fenton for treatment of residual waters contaminated with xylene.

Produced water in oil fields is one of the main sources of wastewater generated in the industry. It contains several organic compounds, such as benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylene (BTEX), whose disposal is regulated by law. The aim of this study is to investigate a treatment of produced water integrating two processes, i.e., induced air flotation (IAF) and photo-Fenton. The experiments were conducted in a column flotation and annular lamp reactor for flotation and photodegradation steps, respectively. The first order kinetic constant of IAF for the wastewater studied was determined to be 0.1765 min(-1) for the surfactant EO 7. Degradation efficiencies of organic loading were assessed using factorial planning. Statistical data analysis shows that H(2)O(2) concentration is a determining factor in process efficiency. Degradations above 90% were reached in all cases after 90 min of reaction, attaining 100% mineralization in the optimized concentrations of Fenton reagents. Process integration was adequate with 100% organic load removal in 20 min. The results of the integration of the IAF with the photo-Fenton allowed to meet the effluent limits established by Brazilian legislation for disposal.