2019 | Brazil | Victor Marotta, Livia Pinaso,

Synthesis of magnetite particles associated with activated carbon and polyurethane for adsorption of dyes and ions of Cd²+ and Co²+

Water issue adressed: Too dirty
SJWP-Brazil-2019 winners and national organizers

The environmental instability caused by increasing presence of metallic ions and dyes in the water has been increasing in the last decades, as the number of researches looking for methods of liquid effluents depollution. One of these methods is the adsorption.
The group synthesized the magnetite (Fe3O4) as a form of low cost and high efficiency adsorber material, together with active carbon and polyurethane. It was aimed at the removal of dyes, cobalt ions (Co2+) and cadmium ions (Cd2+) from effluents. To prove its efficiency, an experimental methodology was used to simulate the aquatic environment where the synthesized materials would act.
Additionally, it was tried to recover the material used in order to reduce the environmental impacts of the research.

This is how I came up with the idea for this project:

I (Livia) was in the library and found a book regarding nanoparticles. Chemical complexes and metals are areas of chemistry that we both have been interested. Then we though we could apply this knowledge in the environmental field.