Electroflotation applied to the treatment of wastewater containing pesticides

• Grant number: 09/17609-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 01, 2010
• End date: December 31, 2010
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Analytical Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Maria Olímpia de Oliveira Rezende
• Grantee: Fernando Lindo Silva
• Host Institution: Instituto de Química de São Carlos (IQSC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The electroflotation (EF) is an electrochemical technique for wastewater treatment that uses sacrifice electrodes for the in situ generation of a coagulation agent. Simultaneously, gas microbubbles are generated as a result of electrolysis of water through the application of a difference of potential between electrodes. In this work, the EF with aluminum electrodes will be applied in the treatment of effluents containing the herbicide glyphosate and its major metabolite, AMPA. The effluent will be evaluated for conductivity, pH, total carbon content and total solids. It is expected that the effluent is free of contaminants and can be discarded in the environment. The development of this project offers to the student the opportunity to deal with sophisticated analytical techniques for evaluation of glyphosate and AMPA and understand the relationship between the quality of effluents and their subsequent disposal environmentally safe. (AU)