Avaliação da remoção de metais pesados em efluentes industriais por sulfeto químico e biogênico

Abstract

The present study aimed to assess heavy metals removal from industrial effluents by using chemical and biogenic sulfide. Initially, an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor (working volume = 2.7 L, HRT = 24 h), supplemented with sulfate (COD/SO42- ratio of approximately 10 and 5), was operated under mesophilic conditions (27 ± 2 °C) for biogenic sulfide production. Subsequently, the effluent of jewelry plating industries from the city of Juazeiro do Norte, Ceará, was characterized in order to verify the major metals and their concentration ranges, as well as other constituents. Then, the application of a multivariate experimental design, whose factors were metal concentration (20, 80 and 140 mg/L), sulfide concentration (20, 40 and 60 mg/L) and reaction time (1, 5 and 9 min), in the process of copper, zinc and nickel removal, both in the presence and absence of macro and micronutrients, was analyzed. Finally, in univariate experiments, the influence of the operating conditions, such as reaction time (15 and 30 min), metal/sulfide molar ratio (0.5, 0.7, 1, 1.6, 1.75 and 2) and sulfide source (chemical and biogenic), on the removal efficiency of the tested heavy metals was verified. After the characterization of the jewelry plating industries effluent, it was found that the majority metals were copper, nickel and zinc. The sulfidogenic reactor showed stable operation for the COD/SO42- ratios studied, with COD removal higher than 70% and sulfate reduction above 90%. From the multivariate experimental design, the most significant factor was metal concentration in all cases. For copper, sulfide concentration had no significant effect in the presence of macro and micronutrients. However, for nickel, all the factors have an influence on removal efficiency. And, for zinc, the time had no significant influence in the absence of macro and micronutrients, whereas, in their presence, that variable was significant. From the response surface contour plot, the optimum point, in terms of removal efficiency, obtained for nickel in the presence and absence of macro and micronutrients was [Ni2+] = 140 mg/L, [S2-] = 60 mg/L and t = 1 min. Subsequently, in the univariate experiments, it was found that the reaction time did not affect the removal of metals studied. The sulfide source had different effects as well as the metal/sulfide molar ratio. For example, for copper, at metal/sulfide molar ratios lower than 1.6, the greatest differences in removal efficiency were obtained, which reached up to 70%. However, for zinc, some differences were only observed at molar ratios above 1.6. Finally, for nickel, differences were observed for molar ratios below 1.