Use Of Coffee Powder (Post-Filtration) In Practical Engineering Classes - An Approach About Sedimentation And Particle Characterization

Sedimentation is an unitary operation widely used in industrial chemical processes, being used in the removal of solid particles in suspension by separating the solid and liquid phases by difference in density and action of the gravitational field. This work aimed to analyze the physical-chemical parameters, such as pH and volume of flocculant agent in the sedimentation of coffee grounds, in a didactic module built in the laboratory, to apply equations related to sedimentation speed, in order to demonstrate the procedure that can be used in practical classes in the Engineering course. The sedimentation in the didactic module proved to be effective and compatible with the tests of sample of 24 mesh, in acid pH, addition of 2.0 mL of flocculant agent, in 30 minutes, obtaining a clarification of low turbidity, 15.43 NTU. In the evaluation of the module efficiency it was used the Stokes law, where, with SEM analysis it was proved the behavior of the particles in different pH, volume of flocculant agent in the phases of the clarified, intermediate and sludge, where the SEM images were treated with the aid of the software Fiji -ImageJ finding the average diameters of the particles, the experiments were suitable for application of the content of the sedimentation in practical classes of the Engineering course.