High silica zeolites for removal of pharmaceuticals in wastewater samples

• Grant number: 16/01314-7
• Support type: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Effective date (Start): May 16, 2016
• Effective date (End): May 15, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Sanitary Engineering - Water Supply and Wastewater Treatment
• Principal Investigator: Pedro Sergio Fadini
• Grantee: Diana Nara Ribeiro de Sousa
• Supervisor abroad: Mira Petrovic
• Home Institution: Centro de Ciências Exatas e de Tecnologia (CCET). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Local de pesquisa : Institut Català de Recerca de l'Aigua (ICRA), Spain
• Associated to the scholarship: 14/21871-2 - Evaluation of zeolites for the emerging contaminants removal from aqueous samples, BP.PD

Abstract

In recent years it has become a growing number of organic substances detected as pharmaceuticals, personal care products and hormones in different aquatic compartments. This has been mainly due to the low efficiency of removal these compounds in conventional wastewater treatment plants. In this sense, additional steps of treatment need to be further studied and improved so that these contaminants can be removed, thus avoiding its input in the environment. Some processes have been studied, but has not yet been possible to establish a fully effective technology. The adsorption processes are very attractive because of its advantages such as no generation of byproducts and the diversity of materials that can be used as activated carbons, silicas and zeolites. Among these, studies have shown that zeolites are promising materials in the removal of such contaminants. From this perspective, this proposal aims to evaluate the utilization of FAU zeolite structure on the adsorption of pharmaceuticals in samples of treated sewage. In addition this, determine the main variables that affect the adsorption process in order try to understand the mechanisms involved in this process. At the end of this work is to establish the optimal conditions for adsorption using zeolites with suitable characteristics, thus contributing to the improvement of treatment processes and consequently minimizing the intake of contaminants. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

RIBEIRO DE SOUSA, DIANA NARA; INSA, SARA; MOZETO, ANTONIO APARECIDO; PETROVIC, MIRA; CHAVES, THIAGO FAHEINA; FADINI, PEDRO SERGIO. Equilibrium and kinetic studies of the adsorption of antibiotics from aqueous solutions onto powdered zeolites. Chemosphere, v. 205, p. 137-146, AUG 2018. Web of Science Citations: 18.