DISEÑO DE UN SISTEMA DE ADSORCIÓN EN CONTINUO PARA ELIMINAR METALES PESADOS DEL AGUA. APLICACIÓN EN PAÍSES EN DESARROLLO

Abstract

Water pollution by heavy metals is a world problem that gives as a result the scarcity of drinking water, especially in developing countries. There are many techniques to remove heavy metals, such as biosorption. Biosorption is a process that uses low cost biomaterials which can hold heavy metals and thus remove them from water. The present work proposes the design of a continuous adsorption system to remove heavy metals from water. The object is to design and build a column system that is going to work in continuous conditions, therefore, the number of columns, flow rate, efficiency of the process and the biosorbent regeneration will be determined also. The biosorbent proposed is Moringa oleifera shell (a tree from Africa and India which has so many applications, among others, water coagulation properties), because previous batch experiments shows its good adsorption efficiency rate. The designed system will be proposed as a low cost system to be used in developing countries, primarily in small rural areas where people has not any access to drinking water. Keywords: Moringa oleifera; heavy metals; biosorption; drinking water