Remoção de compostos nitrogenados de águas residuárias de refinarias de petróleo através de reatores biológicos com fungos

Abstract

The presence of nitrogenous compounds in effluent of petroleum refineries and with concentrations above legal limits is a known serious environmental problem. The proposal of this research was to evaluate the removal of nitrogen compounds (ammonia, nitrite and nitrate) present in petrochemical wastewater by using fungi biological reactor (FBR). In laboratory scale, two aerobic biological reactors with fungi acting as immobilized biomass and up-flow were investigated. Good removals of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate were reached, and the best results occurred in the reactor 2 (R2), operated with HRT of 4 h and 0.5 g glucose/L. The reactor showed removals of 57% (± 25.4) for ammonia, 66% (± 40.7) for nitrite and 62% (± 29.9) for nitrate. The research findings showed that fungi biological reactors are a viable alternative for removal of inorganic nitrogen compounds in effluent from petroleum refineries.