Development of electrochemical process to emergent pollutant removal using a pre-concentration step

• Grant number: 20/03052-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: November 01, 2020
• End date: October 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Sanitary Engineering - Water Supply and Wastewater Treatment
• Principal Investigator: Artur de Jesus Motheo
• Grantee: Rodrigo de Mello
• Supervisor: Manuel Andrés Rodrigo Rodrigo
• Host Institution: Instituto de Química de São Carlos (IQSC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Ciudad Real (UCLM), Spain
• Associated to the scholarship: 18/16308-8 - Production and characterization of hybrid nanomaterials from electrospun nanofibers and evaluation of their efficiency against the electrochemical oxidation of atrazine, BP.DR

Abstract

Water is the most necessary natural resource for the survival and maintenance of life. It is nevertheless threatened by anthropic actions and chemical pollution. The advance of science and the development of technology increasingly sensitive to recognize contaminants even in low concentration, allowed us to discover that the conventional water treatment is not able to completely remove some contaminants highly toxic to humans, such as pesticides, pharmaceuticals, substances used in personal care products and others. This kind of contaminants is called an Emergent Pollutants (EP's) and are found in water bodies in concentrations range of 5Íg L-1. Electrochemical oxidation has been shown a good way to treat wastewater containing different classes of pollutants, including the EP's. However, the energy consumption is very high when the pollutant is found in low concentration, since the degradation process of a lot of compounds follow a pseudo-first order kinects. So, a solution for this issue is a step of pre-concentration of the contaminant and then to treat the solution with the pollutant concentrated. This project aims analyse the possibility of use granular activated carbon as adsorbent material to pre-concentrate Clindamycin, an antibiotics considered an EP. The adsorption mechanism will be elucidated by physical characterization of adsorbent material and using equilibrium and kinects models available in the literature. The electrochemical process will be optimized by analysis of the parameters, such as current density, electrolyte, temperature and pH. (AU)

Scientific publications

(4)

(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)

DE MELLO, RODRIGO; MOTHEO, ARTUR J.; SAEZ, CRISTINA; RODRIGO, MANUEL A.. Combination of granular activated carbon adsorption and electrochemical oxidation processes in methanol medium for benzene removal. Electrochimica Acta, v. 425, p. 8-pg., 2022-09-01. (17/10118-0, 20/03052-5, 18/16308-8)

DE MELLO, RODRIGO; MOTHEO, ARTUR J.; SAEZ, CRISTINA; RODRIGO, MANUEL A.. Recent progress in the combination of activated carbon adsorption and electrolysis for the treatment of wastes. CURRENT OPINION IN ELECTROCHEMISTRY, v. 36, p. 13-pg., 2022-11-11. (18/16308-8, 17/10118-0, 20/03052-5)

DE MELLO, RODRIGO; RODRIGO, MANUEL A.; MOTHEO, ARTUR J.. Electro-oxidation of tetracycline in methanol media on DSA (R)-Cl-2. Chemosphere, v. 273, JUN 2021. (18/16308-8, 17/20444-1, 20/03052-5, 17/10118-0)

DE MELLO, RODRIGO; ARIAS, ANDREA N.; MOTHEO, ARTUR J.; LOBATO, JUSTO; RODRIGO, MANUEL A.. Production of value-added substances from the electrochemical oxidation of volatile organic compounds in methanol medium. CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL, v. 440, p. 9-pg., 2022-03-25. (17/10118-0, 20/03052-5, 18/16308-8)