The Use of Alternative Material for the Substitution of Active Charcoal as a Remediator of Contaminating Substances

The environment capacity is committed, the naturals resources are increasingly scarce, nature is no longer absorbing pollution, so the interest in preserving the environment has been growing with a proposal to use low-cost and renewable materials. Life depends on the resources offered by the planet. One of the materials with the most highlight is the activated charcoal, it is a material of organic origin, which when compacted has a high porosity, which provides a selective adsorption of gases, liquids and impurities within its pores because it has this great adsorbent potential and a obtained at low cost, is commonly used in the industry in processes such as filtration, clarification, deodorization and purification of liquids or gases. The use of an alternative material, preferably some type of waste, capable of replace the activated charcoal in some situations is of a great value for society, since it’s about a material which would be being discarded and increasing the volume of solid waste on the planet.

This scientific research looked for alternative materials like tires, pet bottle, wafer residue, sugar cane bagasse, various plastic bags, tannery (leather waste), domestic industrial and agricultural effluents for the replacement of active charcoal as a remediator of contaminating substances and for this it was necessary identify the alternative materials with substitution potential, characterize the physic-chemical aspects of these materials, to produce the activated charcoal from these materials using pyrolysis techniques, chemical activation, method of thermoanalysis with differential thermal analysis (DTA), application of the material to similar situations to which the active charcoal is submitted, evaluation and comparison of results obtained in the laboratory. This research aims at significantly positive results regarding the properties of the alternative materials selected as the substitute of the activated charcoal in relation to potentially polluting situations in the soil and consequently in groundwater. Besides presenting a new alternative for the reduction of solid residues of the planet with economic feasibility.