Removal of estrogens from water using activated carbon from olive stone
Conference Paper
Overview
Research
Additional Document Info
View All
Overview
abstract
Micropollutants are substances that are continuously released to environments and can present
adverse effects to the environment, even when present at very low concentrations (trace levels).
Among these compounds are the estrogens pharmaceutical drugs, since traditional sewage and
drinking water treatment plants are not able to remove or degrade them1,2. Thus, new and more
efficient treatments are required, such advanced oxidation processes or adsorption.
Activated carbons (ACs) are known as low-cost carbonaceous materials used for removal of pollutants
using adsorption processes3,4. This work aims to produce ACs from olive stone and to evaluate the
simultaneous removal of four different estrogens by adsorption with the produced materials.
From the olive stone by product generated in the olive oil extraction, five different materials were
produced, namely (i) powdered olive stone, (ii) physical activated at 800°C (iii) carbonized at 500°C,
(iv) chemical activated using phosphoric acid and (v) chemical activated with sodium hydroxide. The
carbonization yield was calculated and the pH at point of zero charge (pHPZC) of the carbonaceous
materials determined. The simultaneous quantification of estriol, estrone, 17 -estradiol and 17 -
ethinylestradiol in aqueous solution was performed by high performance liquid chromatography with
diode array detector (HPLC-DAD). The highest carbonization yield (57.5%) was observed using acid
activation. The adsorbents production method also influences the pHPZC of the adsorbents, being more
expressive by the acid activation with the lowest pHPZC (3.84). The olive stone raw-material shows an
important potential to be used on the production of activated carbons with high carbonization yields
The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support through
national funds FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC) to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020, UIDP/00690/2020 and EXPL2021CIMO_05-REMPHARM) and SusTEC
(LA/P/0007/2021).