Application of participatory design and open source to a sustainable proposal for sorption reactor design.

An implementation proposal that seeks to globalize the scope of the sustainable technologies developed in the University laboratories is presented. This approach uses the generation of triple-impact projects placing people at the center of technological development to bring technical and scientific knowledge into a service design oriented to global sustainable solutions. This research is an approach to what a hub for scientific research, technological implementation, and human needs would look like by designing common environments in which to interact and expand knowledge in an iterated way through the experience of all the actors involved in technological implementation. As a control case, a new technology developed at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, consisting of using sustainable materials as tubular reactor fillers for water treatment was chosen. Based on data obtained within the framework of a University extension project, in which the water quality diagnosis for human consumption was carried out and cross-examined with the mathematical analysis of sorption, design parameters of the reactor, participatory design, and open source concepts application, different virtual environments were generated with distinct objectives: i) open design environment: publishing and mapping of installed sorption reactors, reactor model plans, and useful information related to drinking water quality (aimed at contributors of the open source design environment); ii) platform for academic actors linking: connecting data between prototyping lab for participatory design of sorption reactors (aimed at university research users); iii) information disclosure page: space where the implemented technology impact is displayed and shows options to contact researchers and request a reactor design diagnosis for another community (aimed at beneficiary users). A technological service designed to link the University with the community was proposed, by resolving one of the main gaps related to the possibility for communities to access public financing for self-managed improvement projects, increasing the appropriation of the adopted technology and democratizing public investment, making it sustainable over time.

Chromium and Lead adsorption by avocado seed biomass study through the use of Total Reflection X-Ray Fluorescence analysis.

Adsorption is an effective method for the treatment of wastewater containing low concentrations of heavy metals. This kind of metals such as Chromium and Lead could affect health and the ecosystem. In this work, biomass of avocado seed was used as adsorbent. It was tested as adsorbent in natural form (NB), as a chemically activated (AB) form and as activated carbon (AC). Batch reactors were used to investigate the adsorbent efficiency. Concentration of metal ions was measured using Total Reflection X-Ray Fluorescence. Operational conditions influencing adsorption, such as: pH, adsorbent dose, initial concentration and contact time, were measured and controlled. The 80% of adsorption was reached, at pH: 5 and 25 °C, when were used 50 mL of: a 20 mg L-1 of Cr (VI) solution with a dose of 1.25 g of NB, a 30 mg L-1 of Pb (II) solution with a dose of 0.15 g of NB, a 50 mg L-1 Pb (II) solution with a dose of 0.15 g of AB, a 30 mg L-1 Cr (VI) solution with a dose of 0.35 g of AB, a 30 mg L-1 of both metals, with a dose of 0.15 g of AC for Pb (II) and 0.7 g of AC for Cr (VI). In all cases, the pH value before and during the experiments remained constant, indicating the lack of acid/base reactions during the processes. The Langmuir adsorption isotherm model best fitted to the experimental data. The experimental results from kinetic studies best correlated using the pseudo-second order model. An increase in the remotion of both ions (Pb (II) and Cr (VI)), was observed when comparing the results obtained using the activated biomass. However, considering the loss of biomass that the pre-treatment causes, the remotion per gram of initial biomass does not vary significantly.