Wastewater treatment using an iron nanocatalyst supported on Fique fibers

Abstract. Treatment of industrial wastewater for bleaching and removal of heavy metals using heterogeneous, economic and feasible processes has been a topic of interest at industrial scale. Currently, sciences such as nanotechnology have potentiated the properties of composite materials, which have enabled the use and implementation of nanoparticles as active phase in catalysts and adsorbent materials. Particularly, iron nanoparticles have been used in the removal of heavy metals such as mercury and arsenic through operations such as adsorption and they have been used in advanced oxidation processes in which, Fenton process of degradation and mineralization of water from textile industries is performed. In addition, the current need to generate products and processes with sustainable basis has made possible the implementation of the use of natural fibers as potential matrices of composite materials. For this reason today much of the research has focused on the use of lignocellulosic materials, in order to exploit the mechanical, physical and chemical properties of cellulose. In this MSc thesis, a catalytic material was developed from the use of fique fiber as support of iron nanoparticles. A pretreatment of the raw fiber was performed in order to create the appropriate chemical an physical conditions on the fiber surface to support the iron; a functionalization process was carried out to further improve the anchorage to the surface; finally, wet impregnation was used to incorporated iron nanoparticles on the support surface. A detailed characterization of the synthesized material was performed via by gravimetric, volumetric and instrumental analytical methods. This MSc thesis also explore potential applications in the treatment of wastewater, in which promising results were found with respect to degradation and mineralization of azodyes such as Orange II and the removal of heavy metals such as mercury. Both applications were analyzed in order to understand the relevant variables involved during the adsorption and reaction processes.

• Autores: Bastidas Gómez, Karen Giovanna
• Fecha de publicación: 2016
• Institución: Universidad Nacional de Colombia
• Repositorio: Universidad Nacional de Colombia
• Idioma: spa
• OAI Identifier: oai:repositorio.unal.edu.co:unal/58878
• Acceso en línea: https://repositorio.unal.edu.co/handle/unal/58878; http://bdigital.unal.edu.co/55903/
• Palabra clave: 6 Tecnología (ciencias aplicadas) / Technology; 66 Ingeniería química y Tecnologías relacionadas/ Chemical engineering; Furcraea andina tratamiento aguas residuales.; Iron nanoparticles; Orange II; Mercury; Wastewater treatment; Fique; Nanopartículas de hierro; Mercurio; Tratamiento aguas residuales
• Rights: openAccess
• License: Atribución-NoComercial 4.0 Internacional