The disposal of coconut wastes is costly and damaging to the environment, but its uses are advantageous activated carbons production. Coconut leaves waste were used for activated carbon production by pyrolysis at 500º C and activation with potassium carbonate.The activated carbon was used for caffeine removal from aqueous solution. The coconut leaves activated carbon showed a predominantly amorphous structure from X-ray diffraction analysis and a pH at the zero charge point of 7.9. From the N2 adsorption/desorption method, the adsorbent showed a predominance of mesopores, with average pore size of 45.48 ηm and a surface area of 678.03 m 2 /g. From kinetic studies the data followed the pseudo-second order, where the intraparticle diffusion can be neglected. The adsorption isotherms were satisfactorily adjusted for the Redlich-Peterson model and a type curve L was identified. The thermodynamic parameters showed that adsorption occurred spontaneously, was exothermic and governed by physical adsorption. The artificial neural networks developed were capable of predicting both kinetics and equilibrium adsorption data under different operating conditions and was comparable to the traditional models available in literature in the training experiments, encouraging its use for data generalization when an efficient dataset is used. In conclusion, coconut leaves waste showed to be a promising feedstock to produce activated carbon aiming caffeine removal from water and wastewater.

RESUMO: Dentre os métodos de controle da propagação da doença do anel-vermelho, o uso de feromônios associado às armadilhas com alimentos tem se mostrado eficiente na captura do inseto-praga. O feromônio utilizado é denominado como Rincoforol e é disponibilizado em microtubos. Estudos estão em desenvolvimento para aplicar o agente de captura em matrizes sólidas. Nesse contexto, o presente trabalho foi realizado a fim de avaliar a capacidade adsortiva do carvão ativado do endocarpo do coco de dendê na incorporação do Rincoforol para liberação controlada do feromônio em campo.  Para isso, foi realizado um planejamento experimental completo (23) a fim de avaliar a influência do uso de estabilizante junto ao feromônio, da granulometria do carvão ativado e do número de furos do sachê no processo de liberação, obtendo como resposta a perda de massa. Verificou-se que a condição que favorece a liberação controlada do feromônio, ao comparar com a liberação realizada em eppendorf, foi o uso do Rincoforol formulado (com estabilizante) adsorvido em carvão com menor granulometria (35 < ᴓ < 28 mesh) e sachê com 5 furos, condição encontrada no experimento de número 3, o qual apresentou uma menor perda de massa. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Feromônio; Adsorção; Planejamento Experimental.

The disposal of coconut wastes is costly and damaging to the environment, but its uses are advantageous activated carbons production. Coconut leaves waste were used for activated carbon production by pyrolysis at 500º C and activation with potassium carbonate. The activated carbon was used for caffeine removal from aqueous solution. The coconut leaves activated carbon showed a predominantly amorphous structure from X-ray diffraction analysis and a pH at the zero charge point of 7.9. From the N2 adsorption/desorption method, the adsorbent showed a predominance of mesopores, with average pore size of 45.48 ηm and a surface area of 678.03 m2/g. From kinetic studies the data followed the pseudo-second order, where the intraparticle diffusion can be neglected. The adsorption isotherms were satisfactorily adjusted for the Redlich-Peterson model and a type curve L was identified. The thermodynamic parameters showed that adsorption occurred spontaneously, was exothermic and governed by physical adsorption. The artificial neural networks developed were capable of predicting both kinetics and equilibrium adsorption data under different operating conditions and was comparable to the traditional models available in literature in the training experiments, encouraging its use for data generalization when an efficient dataset is used. In conclusion, coconut leaves waste showed to be a promising feedstock to produce activated carbon aiming caffeine removal from water and wastewater.