QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE CHARACTERIZATION OF SURFACTANT IONIC AND NONIONIC ON ITUPARARANGA RESERVOIR, RIVER BASIN SOROCABA (SP)

• Grant number: 10/01483-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: May 01, 2010
• End date: April 30, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Sanitary Engineering - Water Supply and Wastewater Treatment
• Principal Investigator: Maria Bernadete Amâncio Varesche
• Grantee: Lorena Oliveira Pires
• Host Institution: Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 08/55636-9 - Contribution to carbon cycle in Itupararanga reservoir as subsidy for sustainability in Sorocaba watershed, São Paulo, Brazil, AP.TEM

Abstract

Surfactants are compounds widely used in the manufacture of detergents and cleaning products in general and are present in domestic and industrial wastewater. This work will be verified the presence of surfactants, linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS) and linear alcohol ethoxylate (LAE) in surface water and sediment from the Itupararanga reservoir (SP) and Sorocaba River receiving domestic sewage and industrial wastewater. Since the chromatographic method for LAS quantification is well founded and validated in the laboratory in which will be carried out the research, technical in high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) will be developed for quantification of surfactant LAE. Samples from the collection points of the rivers and reservoir will be analyzed for the concentration of LAS and LAE surfactants. After characterizing the surfactants presence, it will be used two different approaches to characterization of anaerobic bacteria involved in surfactants degradation: (1) direct phylogenetic characterization of environmental samples and (2) quantification of anaerobic bacteria degrading the surfactants using the technique of tube multiple (MPN) and phylogenetic characterization of the highest dilution of quantification. Thus, it will be chosen a point of collection, for example, that which was observed the presence of at least one of surfactants in higher concentration. The phylogenetic characterization will be performed using techniques of molecular biology. Through this experiment, it is intended, at the end of the work to quantify the surfactants LAS and LAE in the rivers and reservoir studies and to identify the predominant cultures of microorganisms to contribute to the scarce information about the microbial diversity involved in the degradation of surfactants in natural and impacted environment.