Análisis de la grava como filtro en el tratamiento de aguas residuales provenientes de la procesadora de lácteos “La Clementina” de la provincia de Cotopaxi, cantón Latacunga

Abstract

The present experimental work allows to evaluate the efficiency of gravel as filtering material in the pre-treatment of wastewater from Industrias Lácteas. For the development, analysis and design of the work, the infrastructure and the functioning of the industry were taken into account, as well as the measurement of the incoming flows for the elaboration of food products and the flow that is evacuated to the sewage system after the activities. The operation of the filter was for 90 days, with a constant flow rate of 0.105 liters / sec that must pass through the gravel and this allowed to monitor and take samples every 10 days of the effluent to analyze if there is removal or reduction of contaminants. During the first 60 days, Fats and Oils, COD and BOD5 were analyzed, obtaining satisfactory efficiency results for Fats and Oils, starting with a value of 1971.00 mg / l of unfiltered water and after 60 days of effluent treatment it reached 970.00 mg / l of filtered water, so the efficiency was 50.79%. The COD presented a behavior similar to that of Oils and Fats, but only during the first 30 days. Finally, the concentration of the BOD5 of the unfiltered water presented a total dispersion in its results, so it was carried out in the last 30 days, analysis of the unfiltered effluent and filtering only of the BOD5, obtaining an average efficiency of 36.27%. In addition, a morphological analysis of the gravel was performed on the TESCAN VEGA 3 scanning microscope to observe whether or not there are changes in the material. Despite the fact that the results of leaked sewage from the La Clementina Dairy Industry did not comply with the maximum permissible limit that governs TULSMA for the discharge of effluents in the public sewer system, the use of gravel as a material filter if the concentration of contaminants decreases, concluding that the gravel filter is efficient for the removal of contaminants, especially oils and fats.