Gerenciamento do resíduo da análise de nitrogênio amoniacal em águas de reservatório pelo método do fenato: otimização e tratamento

Abstract

Ammoniacal nitrogen is an important parameter of the aquatic environment due to the proliferation of algae, which has in nitrogen a vital element for its growth that when in excess can lead the body of water to eutrophication. Its quantification is carried out worldwide by the fenate method, which produces a residue containing 3380 mg L-1 of phenol. In Brazil, CONAMA Resolution 430/2011 defines the release rate for effluents as 0.5 mg L-1 of total phenols. Thus, the objective of this work is to manage the residue of the ammoniacal nitrogen analysis, through optimization of the analysis methodology and the treatment of the residual origin, aiming at its proper disposal. For this purpose, the characterization of the residue was carried out initially, followed by the optimization of the analysis and the study of the degradation of the phenol contained in the residue by means of Advanced Oxidative Processes (AOP), being characterized by NMR1H, HPLC and phytotoxicity. In the optimization of the methodology, it was possible to reduce the phenol concentration in the residue to 122 mg L-1 (decrease of more than 96%). According to the legislation, the only one in which the remaining phenol concentration was obtained was to dispose of the residue in a suitable way, in the treatment of the optimized residue using a laboratory scale reactor through the reaction with H2O2/solar ([Phenol]/[H2O2] = 0.13, 4 hours of reaction and 4 additions of H2O2), whereby 0.31 mg L-1 phenol remaining (99.66% phenol removal) was obtained. NMR1H showed that there are only simple compounds remaining in the treatment, where the carbon is low electrophilic. By HPLC it was verified that there are presence of aromatic intermediates (hydroquinone and catechol). The phytotoxicity tests showed that there was a decrease in toxicity in the treatment process of the optimized residue (120 minutes), that is, there was an increase in the germination rate from 33.3% to 83.3%. However, at 300 minutes there was no germination, but this increase in toxicity is only due to the decrease in the pH of the medium, requiring a neutralization before disposal.