Efficient and easily scaled-up biosorbent based on natural and chemically modified macauba (Acrocomia aculeata) to remove Al, Mn and Fe from surface water contaminated with iron mining tailings.

The ruptures of tailings mine dams in the cities of Mariana and Brumadinho contaminated local Brazilian Rivers with toxic metals. Herein, we describe a scaled-up biosorbent based on natural macauba endocarp (NTE) and macauba endocarp chemically treated (TE) to remove Al, Mn and Fe from aqueous solutions. For the TE material: the variation of pH and temperature of water did not cause significant sorption interferences; the kinetics studies suggest a pseudo-second-order model; the adsorption isotherms revealed that the Langmuir equation was the best fit for Al and Mn, while the Freundlich equation best described the Fe; and the maximum adsorption capacities were between 0.268 mg g and 1.379 mg g. A scaled-up was carried out using an adsorption column to remove the metals from Rio Paraopeba River water samples and the results showed that both NTE and TE are potentially low cost biosorbents for removing Al, Mn and Fe.