Sewage Sludge in Phenol and Methylene Blue Adsorption: A Miniproject for Teaching Sustainability

Abstract

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.

New sustainable and robust catalytic supports for palladium nanoparticles generated from chitosan/cellulose film and corn stem biochar

“…In Fig. 4 it is possible to observe characteristic bands of chitosan (Dotto et al 2013 ) and cellulose (Fonseca et al 2020 ) existing in the Pd/CCF. The existing broad band at 3257 cm −1 is associated with O–H and N–H groups.…”

When the Kitchen Turns into a Physical Chemistry Lab

“…Red wine and fruit juices are very variable in their chemical composition, which is one of the possible reasons for the great variety of results the students obtained. Under normal conditions we would recommend to use well-defined pure dyes such as food-coloring dyes or other synthetic dyes as proposed by several authors. − …”

“…Several adsorption isotherm experiments for student laboratories have been published − We implement that of Guirado et al, which comprises the following steps: (1) Prepare a stock solution of the dye and 10 diluted solutions with different dye concentrations. (2) Scan the absorption spectrum of the dye to determine the wavelength of maximal light absorbance and then measure the absorbance at this selected wavelength of each diluted solution.…”

“…( 6) Measure again the absorbance of the solutions. (7) Process the data to obtain the adsorption isotherm, and discuss the results. Due to the severe lock-down we found ourselves in an "Apollo 13" emergency, so we went to our kitchens at home and started to figure out what could be done with the means students have at hand.…”

Increasing Awareness of Materials and the Environment: Hands-On Outreach Activity Presenting Water Purification Materials and Concepts

“…Due to the appeal and scientific relevance of such materials, many similar laboratory experiments have been already performed by involving undergraduate students. − Differently, in our outreach activity, typically performed during science festivals (see Supporting Information), we engage a nonprofessional audience, ranging from motivated children to curious adults. We aim at arousing interest toward the efforts of materials scientists in the development of alternative material formulations that can be regarded as effective, environmentally sustainable, and low-cost solutions for water purification.…”