Produção de carvão ativado a partir da casca da banana pacovan (Musa paradisíaca L.)

Abstract

The Amazon region, despite its vast biodiversity, faces significant challenges, such as the inadequate management of plant residues and the limited access to water treatment systems among the population. In this context, this study evaluated the potential of pacovan banana peel (Musa paradisíaca L.) as a precursor material for activated carbon production aimed at the purification of surface waters. The peels were collected from markets in the municipality of Itacoatiara–AM, cleaned, cut, dried at 100 °C for 24 h, ground, carbonized at 400 °C for 1 h, and classified by granulometry. The ash content was determined by calcination at 700 °C for 12 h, and the chemical activation of the charcoal was performed using ZnCl₂ (1:1). The material presented an ash content of 1.5%, indicating high purity, and a yield of 75.05% in the 60-mesh fraction (0.25 mm). Spectroscopic analyses showed superior adsorption performance of the activated carbon compared to the dehydrated biomass and the non-activated charcoal. Isotherm modeling revealed that the activated carbon under agitation (CAA) exhibited better correlation with the Langmuir model, with a maximum adsorption capacity of 230.10 mg·g⁻¹ and a coefficient of determination R² = 0.9794, while the Freundlich model did not adequately represent the experimental data. In the kinetic studies, the pseudo-second-order model provided the best description of the adsorption process, except for the concentration of 25 mg·L⁻¹, which showed better adjustment to the pseudo-first-order model. This behavior was attributed to the high availability of active sites relative to the low amount of adsorbed molecules, favoring a faster and more superficial process. The results demonstrate that the activated carbon produced from pacovan banana peel is an efficient, sustainable, and economically viable alternative for water treatment, showing promising potential for environmental and industrial-scale applications.