Full text
| |
| Author(s): |
Bruna Soares Fernandes
Total Authors: 1
|
| Document type: | Master's Dissertation |
| Press: | São Carlos. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC/SBD) |
| Defense date: | 2005-03-11 |
| Examining board members: |
Marcelo Zaiat;
Eugenio Foresti;
Ivana Ribeiro de Nardi
|
| Advisor: | Marcelo Zaiat |
| Abstract | |
The industrial development has increased the generation of residues. Some of them are toxics and impact the environment. Benzene, toluene and xylenes (BTX), petroleum sub products, are examples of such toxic compounds. These compounds may contaminate aquifers as a result of accidents during transportation or of leakages of storage tanks. Several factors are reported to affect the biodegradation of BTX, such as: temperature, pH, availability of nutrients, concentration of toxics and diversity of microorganisms. This research aimed to study some of these factors, such as different inoculum sources and different electrons acceptors during BTX degradation processes in an horizontal-flow anaerobic immobilized biomass (HAIB) reactor. In this research three inocula were studied: 1- an adapted microbial community for BTX degradation; 2 - microorganisms collected from a pilot-scale UASB reactor treating domestic wastewater; and 3 - Microorganisms collected from an UASB treating poultry slaughterhouse industry wastewater. The results have shown that the inoculum sources were fundamental to the adaptation period for the toxic biodegradation, producing different BTX removal efficiencies. After 93 days of operation, the inocula 1, 2 and 3 showed BTX removal efficiency of 57, 83 and 90%, respectively. The inoculum 3 was submitted to conditions of methanogesis and sulfetogenesis in the presence and absence of Fe (III). The results demonstrated that BTX degradation was affected by the different conditions adopted, showing that the addition of Fe (III) improved biodegradation in the reactor under sulfate reduction condition. (AU) | |