Avaliação da Goma do Cajueiro (Anacardium occidentale) como biocoagulante no tratamento de água

João Luca Isidio de Oliveira Almeida; Henety Nascimento Pinheiro; Flávia Oliveira Monteiro da Silva Abreu

doi:10.47236/2594-7036.2025.v9.1808

Authors

João Luca Isidio de Oliveira Almeida Instituto Federal do Piauí https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5073-3072
Henety Nascimento Pinheiro State University of Ceará https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4039-5401
Flávia Oliveira Monteiro da Silva Abreu State University of Ceará https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4759-2739

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47236/2594-7036.2025.v9.1808

Keywords:

Biocoagulants, Green chemistry, Water treatment

Abstract

To make water treatment more sustainable and economical, biopolymers have been studied as biocoagulants. These materials demonstrate excellent results when compared to conventional coagulants and flocculants. Cashew gum emerges as an alternative due to its properties such as abundance, easy isolation, and non-toxicity. This study aimed to evaluate the efficiency of cashew gum as a biocoagulant and flocculant in synthetic cloudy water, comparing its performance with the conventional coagulant aluminum sulfate in cloudy water with kaolin. The effectiveness of the isolated and combined substances was analyzed in a jar-test apparatus simulating the coagulation/flocculation stage. Turbidity and pH measurements were taken to determine the efficiency, optimal concentrations, and sedimentation time of the process. The tests demonstrated that the gum has an efficiency of approximately 90% over a wide pH range, with the combined materials, using a dosage of 2 mg/L of Cashew Gum, it was possible to reduce the amount of aluminum sulfate by 52%, requiring 12 mg/L for a removal of 98.43% of turbidity. Furthermore, sedimentation time was halved when cashew gum was applied in conjunction with aluminum sulfate, requiring 10 minutes to achieve a residual turbidity of 3.1 UNT, with an efficiency of 97.5%. It can be concluded that cashew gum is highly efficient in removing turbidity and can act as a flocculant, reducing the amount of metal coagulant required and the process time.

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Author Biographies

João Luca Isidio de Oliveira Almeida, Instituto Federal do Piauí

Master's degree in Natural Sciences from the State University of Ceará. Professor at the Federal Institute of Piauí. Corrente, Piauí, Brazil. Email address: joao.isidio@ifpi.edu.br. Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5073-3072 Lattes Curriculum:http://lattes.cnpq.br/4255269838810779.
Henety Nascimento Pinheiro, State University of Ceará

PhD candidate in Natural Sciences at the State University of Ceará. Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil. Email address: henety.pinheiro@alun.uece.br. Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4039-5401. Lattes Curriculum: http://lattes.cnpq.br/5325214432461655.
Flávia Oliveira Monteiro da Silva Abreu, State University of Ceará

PhD in Materials Engineering from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. Professor at the State University of Ceará. Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil. Email address: flavia.monteiro@uece.br. Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4759-2739. Lattes Curriculum: http://lattes.cnpq.br/7921122115673207.

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