This report presents a miniproject for teaching sustainability through the production of adsorbents from sewage sludge. The activity was tested during the Physical Chemistry II portion of an Agro-Industrial Engineering Course and lasted 4 weeks. The activities developed by the students included preparing the adsorbents (in natura, carbon, and activated carbon), interpreting the results of adsorbent characterization, and testing the adsorption of phenol and methylene blue. During the miniproject, skills were developed in handling laboratory equipment (UV−vis spectrophotometer, shaker) and fixing basic concepts of chemistry (dilution theory), which are covered in limited depth in an engineering degree.

This manuscript reports the valorization of sewage sludge with the production of activated carbon. Thus, a series of 11 adsorbents are produced, activated with different substances (salt, acid, and base), and their adsorptive properties are carefully evaluated. The C6 series of activated carbons prove to be very efficient for removing nitrate anions from aqueous medium and, due to this, it is evaluated as a catalytic support for palladium nanoparticles. The generated solid, named Pd@CA6F, is the first report of a catalyst containing activated carbon from sewage sludge that is efficient in the Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling. The catalytic system developed is eco-friendly, phosphine-free, and of low cost. Good yields are obtained in the coupling of aryl iodides with phenylboronic acid in a short time. The same catalyst load could be recycled for up to ten times.