Use of talc as low cost clarifier for wastewater

ANA GRAFIA; LUCIANA CASTILLO; SILVIA BARBOSA

WATER SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

I W A PUBLISHING

Año: 2014 vol. 69 p. 640 - 646

0273-1223

Talc is proposed as low cost mineral for wastewater clarification. In this sense, adsorption of methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solutions was studied comparatively by using sepiolite (qualified as very good adsorbent) and two talc samples with different particle size and purity degree. The MB adsorption was assessed by determining remnant dye in the supernatant using UV-vis spectroscopy and by detecting dye adsorbed on mineral samples through thermogravimetric analysis and infrared spectroscopy. Either isothermal curves or kinetic studies demonstrate that talc is a good dye adsorbent. Particularly, with dye concentrations similar to textile wastewater, it demonstrates to adsorb the same dye content of sepiolite at similar times. Natural talc could be employed as a low cost alternative in wastewater treatment for the removal of cationic dyes.