Generación de un filtro basado en nanopartículas de óxido de hierro (magnetita) para la remoción de mercurio en aguas contaminadas

Abstract

Human beings have made excessive use of water resources. In addition to contaminating them, for example, mining activity has caused water to have high levels of concentration of heavy metals. Therefore, the objective of this research was to generate filters with magnetite (Fe3O4) impregnated to apply it to the removal of mercury in contaminated waters. The hydrolyzation of the synthetic fibers that acted as filters was carried out to carry out this process, which were added during the synthesis of Fe3O4 created from the chemical coprecipitation method. The nanoparticles and filters were characterized using optical techniques. With the help of Infrared Spectrophotometry, the characteristic adsorption bands of the most common functional groups in Fe3O4 were evident, and with the Scanning Electron Microscope the information was obtained on the morphology, size and impregnation of Fe3O4 on the fibers. The determination of the level of Hg adsorption presented by the filters with MNPs was carried out using the Atomic Adsorption Spectrophotometry equipment of the amount of Hg present in the water after carrying out the treatments. Two types of synthetic fibers were used as filters (A and B) and 3 tests were carried out for each one, obtaining a total of 6 treatments. In each treatment, 4 contact times were taken at 15-minute intervals. A between-subjects ANOVA statistical analysis was carried out, from which it was concluded that the type of fiber with MNPs and the contact time influenced the percentage of Hg adsorption. Finally, it was determined that the best result in the application of synthetic filters with MNPs corresponded to fiber A, more specifically the third treatment, which obtained a removal percentage of 95.96% at minute 30 of contact.