Extração da pectina da casca de pomelo citrus maxima para aplicação como um coagulante natural no tratamento de água superficial

Abstract

Water treatment is a method used to make natural waters potable for human consumption. Coagulants are used for the removal of particles that have been naturally or anthropically introduced into the water. Currently, most of the coagulants used in water treatment are inorganic; however studies with organic coagulants have been increasing due to environmental concerns, and along with this increase, there are concerns regarding costs to dispose the sludge produced during the water treatment process. In this context, this work had the objective of extracting a natural coagulant called pectin from the of peel of the citrus variety Pomelo Citrus maxima, which was then used as a coagulant for the treatment of surface waters. The study was also performed with commercial pectin for comparison purposes. The extraction of Pomelo pectin resulted in a maximum yield of 24%. After extraction, coagulation tests were performed using the extracted pectin and commercial pectin. The tests using extracted pectin resulted in 60% color removal and 49% turbidity removal, and 29 % turbidity removal and 50% color removal using commercial pectin. In this study, it was noted that the amount of suspended solids and the pH of the water to be treated directly affect coagulant removal capacity. Highest removals, using both extracted and commercial pectin, were observed in tests with higher concentrations of suspended solids and pH around 3.0. Thus, it is possible to state that this natural coagulant can potentially be used in the removal of contaminants present in surface waters.