Estudo preliminar da Pereskia aculeata Miller para a utilização no processo de tratamento de efluentes industriais

Abstract

The advance of the industrial development propelled by the high demand for consumer goods, results in high quantities of waste from the production processes. Current legislation requires industries to control their means of production in order to reduce impacts on the environment. One of the processes widely used in wastewater treatment is coagulation/flocculation, a process that is summarized by the colloidal destabilization of particles suspended in the liquid, and in the formation of dense flakes for later decantation. In this process, a coagulating agent, usually a salt, is used to precipitate the impurities, and, in some cases, additives such as polymers are used to aid in the treatment steps. This work talks about the extraction, purification and preliminary tests of the mucilage (biopolymer) of the cactus Pereskia aculeata Miller, as an additive in the coagulation/flocculation process for treatment of synthetic wastewater from dairy production. The drying profiles of the leaves of the plant are also discussed, as is the way models proposed by Page, Lewis and Wang / Sing fit them. The results show that the Page model better describes the behavior of the drying curve. This work also discloses that the biopolymer positively influences the treatment process, but further study is required to determine the optimal concentration and dispersion conditions of the mucilage to be feasible in the coagulation / flocculation processes.