Effect of calcination temperature on material from an ant colony (termite): searching for the characterization of new dye adsorbent materials

The reuse of contaminated water arising from industries is a major challenge in the environmental field, which enables the search for treatments with a view to sustainable development. In this context, the objective of this study was to evalu-ate the effect of the calcination material from an ant colony (termite) in the production of adsorbent materials for meth-ylene blue dye removal. The natural material (NC) and calcined materials at temperatures of 290oC (C-290), 380oC (C-380), 450oC (C-450) and 540oC (C-540) were characterized using techniques of thermal analysis and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). In NC and C-290 samples, the volatile compounds were evaluated by HS-GC/MS and phenolic compounds were identified by HPLC. The results for the adsorption of the dye methylene blue showed that, while the adsorption process can not be quantified employing the natural material, the process efficiency was quite rele-vant when the sample was calcined at a temperature of 290 degrees C, whose removal percentage was 96%. Although the cal-cined sample at this temperature is the most similar to the starting material, performed at a temperature of 290 degrees C acted in reducing the complexity of phenolic and volatile compounds found in the NC sample, which may negatively impact in the adsorption process.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the effect of calcination material from an ant colony as an adsorbent for methylene blue dye removal. The results showed that the calcined sample at a temperature of 290℃ had a high adsorption efficiency, but its treatment process may have a negative impact on phenolic and volatile compounds.