Preliminary strongfeasibilitystrong study for the use of an adsorptionbio.pdfVIP

Preliminary feasibility study for the use of an adsorption/bio- regeneration system for molinate removal from effluents ´ a a ´ a ´ b Monica Silva , Ana Fernandes , Adelio Mendes , Celia M. Manaia , Olga C. Nunesa,* a ! LEPAE-Departamento de Engenharia Quımica, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, R. Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal b ´ ´ Escola Superior de Biotecnologia, Universidade Catolica Portuguesa, R. Dr. Antonio Bernardino de Almeida, 4200-072 Porto, Portugal Keywords: Molinate; Adsorption; Amberlite XAD-4; Bio-regeneration Abstract This work studies the feasibility of the use of a combined physical-biological remediation procedure for treatment of effluents contaminated with molinate, where the herbicide is removed through adsorption and biodegraded in a subsequent stage, with the regeneration of the adsorbent. In order to select the most adequate absorbent for molinate, different materials were tested, namely pine bark, activated carbon and resin Amberlite XAD-4. Activated carbon and resin Amberlite XAD-4 were the most efficient on the removal of molinate from solutions, although the activated carbon used proved not to be bio-regenerable. It was also observed that factors such as temperature, pH, and conductivity did not affect significantly molinate adsorption onto resin Amberlite XAD-4. Resin Amberlite XAD-4 was successfully bio-regenerated, being observed that biodegradation was mainly dependent on spontaneous desorption of the molinate. After bio-regen