Name: RODRIGO FIGUEIREDO VASCONCELOS
Publication date: 26/08/2021
Advisor:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| SÉRVIO TÚLIO ALVES CASSINI | Advisor * |
Examining board:
| Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| GUSTAVO DOS REIS GONÇALVES | External Examiner * |
| RICARDO FRANCI GONÇALVES | Internal Examiner * |
| SÉRVIO TÚLIO ALVES CASSINI | Advisor * |
Summary: In this work, porous carbonaceous materials based on coal, anthracite and commercial activated carbon were characterized and applied on the removal of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and naphthalene present in a contaminated water samples through adsorption on fixed-bed columns. The anthracite was subjected to a heat treatment in an industrial electric furnace at temperatures between 1700 and 3000°C, being later called Electrically Calcined Anthracite (ECA). Also in this work, the crude anthracite (CA), granular activated carbon (GAC) commercially available for sale and
sand were used as adsorbent material for the experiment. The substrates were
characterized by following some techniques, such as: specific surface area using the model proposed by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) through adsorption of N2 gas at 77K, pore size ratio obtained by the computational method of Barrett, Joyner and Halenda (BJH), particle size analysis, hydrocarbon concentration analysis via gas chromatography and quantitative analysis of biofilms using the Take3 method. The experiment had 3 blocks in which the 4 different substrates in triplicate were submitted to the design of causal blocks. The effluent contaminated with naphthalene fed the fixed-bed columns upwards, with an outflow of each section of 2.0 ml/sec. During the liquid-liquid extraction of the effluent with hexane solvent, the presence of biomass was found after 104 hours of treatment. However, the author did not bio stimulate the growth of microorganisms. The naphthalene concentration of the CAG
treated effluent was not detected during the 248 hours of treatment making this the best result. AEC had its highest adsorption capacity of 5.17 µg of C10H8 per gram of substrate in 72 hours. AB presented its best adsorption capacity with 3.17 µg of C10H8 per gram of substrate in 32 hours. After 176 hours of treatment, the naphthalene content decreased in both fixed bed columns, strengthening the thesis that the microorganisms used naphthalene as a source of carbon and energy for their growth.
