Biological Water Treatment Residuals from Plants Quinoa Processors

Abstract

Abstract This study aimed to carry out a biological treatment of the wastewater of plants that process quinoa and check whether they complied with the current environmental quality standard for the wastewater discharge since this type of water generates highly polluting effluents. For this, an initial characterization of the discarded water was carried out and the following parameters that are not in line with the current regulations for its discharge were determined: oils and fats (9 mg/L), real color (3520 units of Pt/Co), settable solids (13,500 mg / L), total suspended solids (1195 mg/L), total solids (4644 mg/L), total nitrogen (250 mg/L), COD (5000 mg/L), BOD5 (2990 mg/L), surfactants (17.5 mg/L) and fecal coliforms (240 CFU/100 ml). Next, the biodegradability index was calculated with which the possibility of executing the said treatment to the waste water was corroborated; for this, a primary settler, an aeration tank with diffusers as a biological reactor, at the laboratory level, a secondary settler and finally an anthracite and sand filter were used. This way, we were able to obtain treated water that complied with the current legislation for the discharge of effluents to a body of fresh water with a pollutant removal percentage of 97%. In this study, we provide guideline for the recirculation of water in a similar manner for other relevant purposes.

Keywords

• chemical engineering, biological treatment, quinoa washing, biodegradability index, contaminating parameters