Optimization of nitrogen and phosphorus removal from pig slaughterhouse and packing plant wastewater through electrocoagulation in a batch reactor

  • Fábio Orssatto Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR), Medianeira, PR, Brasil Departamento Acadêmico de Ciências Biológicas e Ambientais.
  • Maria Hermínia Ferreira Tavares Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná (UNIOESTE), Cascavel, Paraná, Brasil Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Agrícola.
  • Flávia Manente da Silva Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR), Medianeira, PR, Brasil Departamento Acadêmico de Ciências Biológicas e Ambientais.
  • Eduardo Eyng Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR), Medianeira, PR, Brasil Programa de Pós-Graduação em Tecnologias Ambientais.
  • Leandro Fleck Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná (UNIOESTE), Cascavel, Paraná, Brasil Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Agrícola.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4136/ambi-agua.2233
Keywords: electroflotation, electrolytic treatment, nutrients

Abstract

This work evaluated the removal of total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) and total phosphorus (P) through electrocoagulation and used aluminum electrodes to optimize the potential differential (pd) and hydraulic retention time (HRT) variables in a batch reactor. The experimental design used was Rotatable Central Composite Design (RCCD). The application of the electrocoagulation in the treatment of effluents from pig slaughterhouses and packing plants proved to be efficient in relation to the removal of TKN and total phosphorus, obtaining maximum efficiency equal to 67.15% and 99%, respectively. The maximum TKN removal value was found in Test 12, where treatment conditions were 30 minutes for HRT and 20 volts for pd, which corresponds to 0.86 A of electric current and a current density of 17.2 mA cm-2. For P, the only test that removed below 99% was the first. Through statistical analyses, it was only possible to obtain a mathematical model for TKN removal. While the response surface graph did not present a defined range of the best conditions for the independent variables, it was possible to observe the tendency for better removal, a wide range of pd and values over 30 minutes for retention time.


Published
20/09/2018
Issue
Vol. 13 No. 5 (2018)
Section
Papers

Authors maintain the copyrights for their work. However, they grant rights of first publication to Ambiente e Agua - An Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Science. In compensation, the journal can transfer the copyrights, allowing non-commercial use of the article including the right of sending the article to other data bases or publication media. The journal uses the CC BY 4.0 license"