Evaluación de la actividad absorbente de plomo en aguas residuales empleando como material el olote de maíz (zea mays)

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the absorbent capacity of lead (II) using corn cob in wastewater as a bio-filtering material. The research was experimental of the longitudinal type with a scientific approach, where the final lead (II) removal remained constant. In contrast, the corn cob particle size and removal time variables were manageable. The study population was synthetic wastewater contaminated with lead (II) at 5 and 10 mg/L, for which a biofilter was designed to perform six tests with the absorbent material with different parameters. The results showed that the linear correlation coefficient of the adjustment to the Freundlich model is 0.98 higher than that obtained when the adjustment is made to the Langmuir model, confirming the high affinity between the corn cob with pre-treatment and lead (II) in the monolayer. The maximum adsorption capacity obtained in the investigation was qe=50.02 mg/g. therefore, it is concluded that the variables that best adjusted to remove the most significant amount of metal were Temperature of 17° C, Removal time of 24 hours, Corn cob particle size of 0.6 mm, and adsorbent mass of 160 g— achieving a removal percentage of 74.77%. Therefore, it is concluded that the corn cob as an absorber of lead in wastewater confirmed by the Freundlich method a predominance of physisorption in the monolayer.