Biorremediação da água de biodiesel utilizando lipase fúngica de Penicillium sumatrense

Abstract

Oils and greases (O&G) represent a class of pollutants with low affinity for water. Their removal of industrial wastewater is often challenging and involves the combination of different conventional treatment technologies, which, however, often present drawbacks such as the production of hazardous sludge and high energy consumption. One example is the biodiesel production sector, where the generated effluents are rich in oils and greases. Finding innovative treatment alternatives represents a significant contribution to operational and economic sustainability in the biofuels sector. In this context, the pretreatment of fat-rich waste water by bioremediation using biocatalysts as fungal lipases may be a promising alternative, since the production of the enzyme is low cost and presents the advantages of biodegradability (white biotechnology) and can be recovered and used in recycles, reducing the operational cost. The objective of this work was to evaluate the biodegradation of oils and greases (O&G) in wastewater effluents from biodiesel washing, by means of fungal lipase from Penicillium sumatrense obtained through the SST (Solid State Fermentation) process. The results indicated that after the bioremediation there was a reduction in all parameters evaluated, according to Resolution 430/2011 of CONAMA. The content of oils and greases decreased by 86%; to COD 5.0%; to BOD 7%; of total solids (TS) 84.5% and the pH remained at 5.76. The effluent biodegradability ratio (BOD5 / COD) calculated was 1.30. This ratio indicates that values lower than 0.6 estimate low effluent biodegradability, therefore, the value obtained in this research indicates a good biodegradability of the studied effluent. In view of the obtained results an efficient treatment was verified where the wastewater of the biodiesel production industry could be used for the purpose of launching or reuse in the industrial process, minimizing the generation of effluents in the treatment plants.