Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2005PR21B

Removal of Inorganic, Organic and Antimicrobials Contaminants from Aqueous Solutions by Waste Tire Crumb Rubber

Institute: Puerto Rico
Year Established: 2005 Start Date: 2005-03-01 End Date: 2006-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $20,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $29,661

Principal Investigators: Oscar Perales-Perez, Marco Arocha, Felix Roman

Project Summary: The present proposal is focused on the systematic evaluation of crumb rubber as a suitable material to remove inorganic, organic solvents and antimicrobials from aqueous effluents through a low-cost and easy-to-scale technology based on the sorption properties of this waste material. We propose to investigate not only the conditions leading to maximization of uptake capacity and sorption rate, (including chemical and physical activation of rubber particles as a pre-treatment to enhance its sorption capability) but also the conditions to re-extract the contaminants (desorption), a factor of critical importance to determine the potential use of the proposed sorbent on a large scale remediation application. The remediation option addressed by this proposal is based on the presence of carbon black, zinc oxide, and sulfur in crumb rubber, with potential capability to absorb/adsorb and precipitate hazardous species from aqueous solution. This fact has been verified by preliminary results obtained in the first part of our work with Cu(II), Cd(II) and Pb(II) species. The sorbent will be kindly provided by Rubber Recycling and Manufacturing Corp., REMA, a Puerto Rican company that produces crumb rubber at different particle sizes from scrap tires. The applicability of crumb rubber as a sorbent will expand the recycling options for this material towards the treatment of polluted effluents (surface and underground) and remediation of contaminated soils where eventual superficial or underground water streams could have mobilized the contaminants into the aqueous phase.