Caracterização de biopolímeros extraídos da babosa (Aloe arborescens) e avaliação no processo de floculação e coagulação no tratamento de água

Abstract

The mucilaginous plants, have been frequently more studied in the process of flocculation/coagulation with the purpose of evaluate their efficiency in water treatment. Using these plants, the goal is to reduce the use of inorganic flocculants or even to replace them with these biomaterials. The main objective of this work was to characterize and evaluate the biopolymer of Aloe arborescens in the flocculation/coagulation process in superficial water treatment. To achieve this objective, the natural polymer was chemically characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X ray diffractometry (RXD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The mucilage was studied statistically by central composite design 23 to evaluate its efficiency in the process of flocculation/coagulation. The structural characterization indicated that the biopolymer studied was a glycoprotein compound, which has an amorphous structure, with adhesion of the smaller particles in the surfaces of larger particles. This indicates that the mucilage of Aloe arborescens can be a good flocculating agent. In the treatment process, there were reductions in turbidity (0.00-46.79%) that were not statistically significant and reductions of the humic compounds, absorbing in the UV254 region (0.00- 55.72%) and aromatic, absorbing In the UV280 region (0.00-61.29%), according to the central composite design, presenting these statistically significant values to the contact time dependent variable in flocculation (TCF). Finally, the biopolymer of Aloe arborescens can be considered an alternative substitution for inorganic compounds - in the process of flocculation/coagulation in the treatment of water - for the reduction of humic and aromatic compounds, as well as the production of biodegradable sludge.