Use of Co-Products from the Processing of Cassava for the Development of Adsorbent Materials Aiming Metal Removal

Nowadays the contamination of water resources by the most varied pollutants have been accelerated. Technologies of decontamination of water are too costly, however, the development of low cost adsorbents, have proven to be efficient, promising and cheap alternatives for this purpose. The use of adsorbents from cassava residues has shown great potential for use as an adsorbent. The productive chain of this crop involves the production and processing of its roots, generating a large volume of solid waste. Aiming the sustainability of production systems, productive chains should optimize the production of cassava barks residues, since these do not present significant uses or benefit. In this scenario, this chapter gathers information from the literature on the use of solid waste from the cassava agroindustry and its use as adsorbents, aiming the removal of toxic metals, as well as their potential for the treatment of other contaminants. Several authors have demonstrated through studies the potentiality of the use of agroindustrial cassava residues as adsorbents. Because of a range of characteristics observed these adsorbents present viability for large-scale use, being in very similar to activated carbon. Thus, the use of these adsorbent materials represents an extremely viable and sustainable alternative.