THE BIODEGRADATION OF SUNFLOWER OIL IN WASTEWATER CONTAINING SACCHAROSE IS STUDIED USING AN ACTIVATED SLUDGE TECHNIQUE AND AN AERATION TANK PROVIDED WITH A BAFFLE IN ORDER TO INCREASE OIL AND FAT RESIDENCE TIME. CONCENTRATION LEVELS OF MIXED LIQUOR SUSPENDED SOLIDS (MLSS) RANGED FROM 0.5 TO 1.8KGCOD/KGSSLM/DAY AND INTAKE CONCENTRATION OF OILS AND FATS RANGED FROM 191,6 TO 937,5MG·L-1. AN ESTIMATE OF THE BIODEGRADED MATERIAL WAS OBTAINED BY MEANS OF A MASS BALANCE. THE RESULTS SHOW DEGRADA TION LEVELS RANGING FROM 74 TO 44% WITH REMOVAL EFFICIENCIES OF 93 TO 86%. THIS PROCESS PERFORMANCE INCLUDES THE REMOVAL DUE TO FLOTATION. IN THE OTHER HAND, IT IS OBSERVED THAT THE OIL BIODEG RADATION LEVELS DECREASE AS THE INTAKE OIL CONCENTRATION INCREAS ES. AT THE EFFLUENT, GROWTH OF THE FILAMENTOUS MASS IS OBSERVED AND, CONSEQUENTLY, AN INCREASE OF THE SLUDGE VOLUME INDEX IS REGISTERED, REACHING FIGURES OF UP TO 300MG·L-1, WAY OVER THE RECOMMENDED STANDARD (150MG·L-1). FINALLY IT IS WORTH MENTIONING THAT THE OBSERVED COD BIODEGRADATION RANGES FROM 87 TO 48% AND THE REMOVAL FROM 95 TO 90%. THESE RESULTS ARE HIGHER THAN THOSE TYPICALLY OBSERVED FOR OIL AND FAT, A RESULT THAT CAN BE EX PLAINED BY THE PRESENCE OF SACCHAROSE.

WE STUDIED AND QUANTIFIED THE ELIMINATION OF SUNFLOWER OIL FROM A WASTEWATER INFLUENT USING A BIOLOGICAL TREATMENT BY ACTIVATED SLUDGE. ESTIMATION OF THE BIODEGRADED MATERIAL WAS OBTAINED DOING A MASS BALANCE, AND WE CONDUCTED A FOLLOW-UP OF THE DIFFERENT OPERATIONAL PARAMETERS AND DESIGN. WE DELIVERED INFORMATION ABOUT THE OPERATION OF A SYSTEM FOR TREATMENT BY ACTIVATED SLUDGE FED WITH AN INFLUENT WITH SUNFLOWER OIL AND SACCHAROSE. THE INFLUENT WAS PREVIOUSLY AGITATED BEFORE ENTERING THE EFFLUENT SLUDGE IN A LAB-SCALE PLANT. THE WORKING RANGE FOR OIL CONCENTRATION WAS 100 TO 850 MG/L IN THE INFLUENT. BIODEGRADATION WAS IN THE RANGE OF 60% TO 51%. THE PROCESS WORKS BETTER WITH A HIGH INITIAL CONCENTRATION OF BIOMASS (7500 MG/L) IN ORDER TO ABSORB THE IMPACTS CAUSED BY THE OIL ON THE MICROORGANISMS. THE LOWEST TOTAL SUSPENDED SOLIDS CONCENTRATION WAS 4500 MG/L. THE ELIMINATION OF SUNFLOWER OIL IN BIODEGRADATION AND FLOTATION WAS ON THE ORDER OF 90%.

FATS AND OILS ARE THE MOST COMMON POLLUTANTS IN WASTEWATER, AND ARE USUALLY ELIMINATED THROUGH PHYSICAL PROCESSES IN WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS, GENERATING LARGE AMOUNTS OF FATS AND RESIDUAL OILS THAT ARE DIFFICULT TO DISPOSE OF AND HANDLE. THE DEGRADATION OF FATTY WASTEWATER WAS STUDIED IN A REAL WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT AND A LABORATORY SCALE TREATMENT UNIT. THE WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT, LOCATED IN CHILE, WAS DESIGNED FOR A POPULATION OF 200,000 INHABITANTS. IT INCLUDES AN AEROBIC DIGESTER THAT RECEIVES FAT AND OILS RETAINED IN A DEGREASER AND TREATS THE FATS AND OILS TOGETHER WITH BIOMASS. THE BIODEGRADATION OF FATS AND OILS WAS ANALYZED IN BOTH WASTEWATER TREATMENT SYSTEMS. KEY PARAMETERS WERE MONITORED SUCH AS THE CONCENTRATION OF FATS AND OILS IN THE INFLUENTS AND EFFLUENTS, MASS LOADING, AND THE EFFICIENCY OF BIODEGRADATION. THE MASS LOADING RANGE WAS SIMILAR IN BOTH WASTEWATER TREATMENT SYSTEMS. IN THE EXPERIMENTAL ACTIVATED SLUDGE PLANT, THE BIODEGRADATION OF FATS AND OILS REACHED LEVELS IN THE RANGE OF 64% TO 75%. FOR THE WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT WITH AN AEROBIC DIGESTER, THE LEVELS OF BIODEGRADATION OF FATS AND OILS RANGED FROM 69% TO 92%. THEREFORE, CONSIDERING THE EFFICIENCY OF THE ELIMINATION OF FATS AND OILS, THE RESULTS INDICATED THAT PHYSICAL TREATMENT SHOULD BE REPLACED WITH BIOLOGICAL TREATMENT SO THAT THE CO2 GENERATED BY THE BIODEGRADATION WILL BE INCORPORATED INTO THE CARBON CYCLE AND THE MASS OF FATS AND OILS IN LANDFILLS WILL BE REDUCED.

THIS RESEARCH STUDIES THE BIODEGRADATION OF SUNFLOWER-TYPE VEGETATIVE OIL IN TWO PROPOSED ACTIVATED SLUDGE SYSTEMS, THE FIRST ONE TO BIOLOGICALLY TREAT AN INFLUENT CONTAINING ONLY VEGETATIVE OIL AND THE SECOND ONE TO TREAT A MIXTURE OF VEGETABLE OIL PLUS SACCHAROSE. THE PURPOSE OF THESE ANALYSES IS TO EVALUATE THE DIFFERENTIAL IMPACT CAUSED BY THE SOLUBLE SUBSTRATE SACCHAROSE ON THE REMOVAL OF VEGETATIVE OIL. VEGETATIVE OIL BIODEGRADATION IN BOTH SYSTEMS WAS STUDIED AND QUANTIFIED VIA INTEGRAL MASS BALANCE, AND RELEVANT OPERATING PARAMETERS WERE MONITORED. THIS EXPERIMENTATION BASED ON THE MASS BALANCE ESTIMATION OF BIODEGRADED VEGETATIVE OIL SERVES AS A REFERENCE TO UNDERSTAND THE EFFECT OF SOLUBLE SUBSTRATES PRESENT IN MIXED WASTEWATER ON OIL BIODEGRADATION. INFORMATION WAS GENERATED ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE TWO ACTIVATED SLUDGE TREATMENT SYSTEMS. BOTH INFLUENTS WERE PRE-STIRRED BEFORE THEY ENTERED THE BENCH-SCALE ACTIVATED SLUDGE PLANTS. THE WORKING RANGE FOR SUNFLOWER OIL CONCENTRATION WAS 120 TO 520 MG/L FOR THE INFLUENT WITH SUNFLOWER OIL AND 180 TO 750 MG/L FOR THE INFLUENT WITH SUNFLOWER OIL AND SACCHAROSE. BIODEGRADATION WAS IN THE ORDER OF 56 TO 72% AND 47 TO 67%, RESPECTIVELY. THE REMOVAL OF SUNFLOWER OIL IN BIODEGRADATION AND FLOTATION WAS IN THE ORDER OF 90% IN BOTH SCENARIOS.

FATS AND OILS PRESENT IN WASTEWATER ARE USUALLY ELIMINATED BY PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES. IN THIS EXPERIENCE, THE FATTY WASTEWATERS ARE TREATED BIOLOGICALLY, AND IT ASSESSES THE IMPACT OF THE MIX IN THE FATS AND OILS BIODEGRADATION AND CARRIED OUT THE EXPERIMENTS IN A LABORATORY SCALE UNIT. THE BIODEGRADATION OF FATS AND OILS WAS ANALYSED IN TWO SCENERIES, WITH MIX PREVIOUS BY MECHANICAL AGITATION AND WITHOUT MIX. KEY PARAMETERS WERE MONITORED, SUCH AS THE CONCENTRATION OF FATS AND OILS IN THE INFLUENTS AND EFFLUENTS, MASS LOADING, AND THE EFFICIENCY OF BIODEGRADATION. THE MASS LOADING RANGE WAS SIMILAR IN BOTH SCENERIES. IN THE EXPERIMENTAL ACTIVATED SLUDGE PLANT WITHOUT MIX, THE BIODEGRADATION OF FATS AND OILS REACHED LEVELS IN THE RANGE OF 28 TO 42.5%. FOR THE WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT WITH A PREVIOUS MIX BY MECHANICAL AGITATION, THE LEVELS OF BIODEGRADATION OF FATS AND OILS RANGED FROM 64 TO 75%. THEREFORE, CONSIDERING THE EFFICIENCY OF THE BIODEGRADATION OF FATS AND OILS IN BOTH SCENERIES, THE RESULTS INDICATED THAT THE LEVEL MIX IS A HIGH INCIDENCE.

CLIMATE CHANGE IS HAVING DRASTIC CONSEQUENCES IN CHILE. THE LACK OF WATER IN VARIOUS REGIONS IS CAUSING ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS ON ECOSYSTEMS, INCLUDING THE DECREASE IN THE PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES OF RURAL ECONOMIES AND THE DETERIORATION IN THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF THE INHABITANTS THAT OCCUPY THE AFFECTED PHYSICAL SPACES. IN THIS PAPER, WE PROPOSE A SUSTAINABLE, LOW-COST TREATMENT OF WASTEWATER AND ITS REUSE AS AN ADAPTATION AND MITIGATION POLICY, PATENTED IN 2019, THAT CONSISTS OF A WASTEWATER DISINFECTION SYSTEM BASED ON SOLAR ENERGY. THIS SYSTEM CAN WORK IN BOTH CONTINUOUS AND DISCONTINUOUS MODES. THE WATER PASSES THROUGH A CANAL OF REFLECTIVE MATERIAL IN THE CONTINUOUS REGIME, AND IN THE BATCH REGIME, THE WATER REMAINS IN THE CANAL. THE PANELS ARE LOCATED PARALLEL TO THE LATERAL FACES OF THE CANAL. THESE PANELS CONCENTRATE THE RADIATION IN THE CANAL THROUGH REFLECTION. THE TRAPEZOIDAL GEOMETRY OF THE DISINFECTANT CANAL DEFLECTS THE RADIATION AND REFLECTS IN THE DIRECTION OF THE FRONT WALLS OF THE CANAL, RADIATING WHAT IS RETURNED AND VICE VERSA. THE FRACTION OF THE RADIATION REFLECTED OUTSIDE THE CANAL REACHES THE REFLECTIVE SIDE PANELS THAT RETURN THE RADIATION TO THE CANAL. THE SYNERGY OF THESE THREE CONSIDERATIONS INCREASES THE RADIATION IN THE CANAL AREA, AUGMENTING THE ELIMINATION OF THE BACTERIAL LOAD. IN THE TRAPEZOIDAL REFLECTIVE CANAL WITHOUT PANELS, ONLY 5% OF THE MEASURED RADIATION EXCEEDED THE ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION, ELIMINATING 83% OF THE COLIFORMS. THE INCORPORATION OF PANELS SURPASSED THE ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION OVER 36% OF THE MEASURED RADIATIONS, AND THE REMOVAL OF COLIFORMS EXCEEDED 99.7%.

THE AIM OF THIS WORK IS TO EVALUATE THE INCIDENCE RATE OF THE PREVIOUS ACCLIMATIZATION OF BIOMASS AND THE PRESENCE OF ANY OTHER EASILY BIODEGRADABLE SUBSTRATES, SUCH AS SUCROSE. THIS EXPERIMENT WILL BE UNDERTAKEN WITH SUNFLOWER OIL BIODEGRADATION IN A BATCH REACTOR WITH SUSPENDED BIOMASS. IT USED A BIOMASS CONCENTRATION OF 5000 MG/L IN BATCH REACTORS, AND IN EVERY CONDITION THE ELIMINATION OF OIL BY MEANS OF BIODEGRADATION WAS ACHIEVED WITH LEVELS RANGING FROM 10 TO 90 % IT WAS NOTICED THAT SLUDGE ACCLIMATION SUBSTANTIALLY IMPROVES BIODEGRADATION EFFICIENCY BY INCREASING THE AVERAGE BIODEGRADATION FROM A VALUE OF 30% TO 80%. WHEN ADDING SUCROSE TO AN ACCLIMATIZED BIOMASS STAGE, BIODEGRADATION SUNFLOWER OIL IS REDUCED, FROM AN AVERAGE VALUE OF 80% TO 60%.

THE NEED ARISES TO SEEK NEW DEPURATION TECHNOLOGICAL RESPONSES AIMED AT THE REUSE OF WASTEWATER, WHICH REQUIRES THE DEVELOPMENT AND PROMOTION OF ECONOMICALLY AND ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGIES. IN THIS PAPER, IT STUDIES AN IMPROVEMENT TO A DISINFECTION SYSTEM SUSTAINABLE, LOW-COST, PATENTED IN 2019, AND BASED ON SOLAR ENERGY. THE WATER PASSES THROUGH A CANAL OF REFLECTIVE MATERIAL IN THE CONTINUOUS REGIME, AND IN THE BATCH REGIME, THE WATER REMAINS IN THE CANAL. THE PANELS ARE LOCATED PARALLEL TO THE LATERAL FACES OF THE CANAL. THE FRACTION OF THE RADIATION REFLECTED OUTSIDE THE CANAL REACHES THE REFLECTIVE SIDE PANELS THAT RETURN THE RADIATION TO THE CANAL. THESE PANELS CONCENTRATE THE RADIATION IN THE CANAL THROUGH REFLECTION. THE DISINFECTANT CANAL WITH FINS AND SIDE PANELS USES ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION TO ELIMINATE THE BACTERIAL LOAD CARRIED BY TREATED WASTEWATER. FOR THIS REASON, THE PRESENT WORK ANALYZES THE INCIDENCE IN THE AREA OF INFLUENCE OF THE DISINFECTANT CANAL. WHEN REFLECTIVE ALUMINUM MIRRORS WERE INSTALLED ON THE SLOPING WALLS OF THE CANAL, GLOBAL RADIATION INCREASED BY 4%, WHEN THEY WERE USED ON THE SIDE PANELS, IT INCREASED 3%, AND WHEN THE ALUMINUM MIRRORS WERE USED ON THE CANAL WALLS AND SIDE PANELS, IT INCREASED 8%. THE IMPORTANT THING ABOUT THIS WORK IS THAT IT OPENS WINDOWS FOR IMPROVING THE SYSTEM THROUGH MATERIALITY SO THE NEW CHALLENGE IS THE SEARCH FOR THE OPTIMAL MATERIAL CONSIDERING THE IMPACT ON GLOBAL RADIATION AND CONSEQUENTLY ON THE BACTERIOLOGICAL ELIMINATION.

THIS RESEARCH STUDIES THE INCIDENCE OF THE TYPE OF SUBSTRATE, SOLUBLE OR PARTICULATE, IN THE EMERGENCE, DEVELOPMENT, AND INHIBITION OF BULKING IN ACTIVATED SLUDGE SYSTEMS. IT WAS EVALUATED USING THE SLUDGE VOLUME INDEX (SVI), MIXING LIQUOR-SUSPENDED SOLIDS (MLSS), MICROSCOPIC ANALYSIS OF BIOMASS, AND EFFLUENT SUSPENDED SOLIDS (ESS). IN THE FIRST EXPERIMENT, FOUR SEQUENCING BATCH REACTORS (SBRS) WERE FED WITH SOLUBLE SUBSTRATE AT A FIXED MASS, WHILE THE MASS OF THE PARTICULATE SUBSTRATE VARIED, AS THOSE (SACCHAROSE MASS/FLOUR MASS) RATIOS WERE 3:1, 3:2, 3:3 AND 3:4., WITH A DEFICIT RANGING FROM 20 TO 30% COMPARED TO THE RATIO RECOMMENDED. THE FOUR SBRS HAVE SIMILAR MLSS, IVL, AND ESS. FROM DAY 30, WITH A DEFICIT FROM 80 TO 90%, THE INFLUENTS HAVE RATIOS 1/1 AND 1/2 UNTIL 48 DAYS. THE SBRS PRESENT IVL BETWEEN 600 AND 730 ML/G AND ESS FROM 370 TO 440 MG/L; UNLIKE INFLUENTS WITH RATIOS 1/3 AND 1/4, THEY PRESENT IVL BETWEEN 170 AND 185 ML/G, AND ESS FROM 260 TO 270 MG/L. THE FAVORABLE EFFECT OF PARTICULATE MATTER IS CATEGORICAL. IN THE SECOND SET OF EXPERIMENTS, TWO SBRS WERE STUDIED: SBR 1 FED WITH SACCHAROSE, AND SBR 2 WITH FLOUR; THERE IS A LACK OF NUTRIENTS CAUSING BULKING IN SBRS. ONCE THE NUTRIENT DEFICIENCY CONDITION IS CHANGED IN DAY 11 TO EXCESS, AFTER 22 DAYS, THE SVI WAS 190 ML/G, ESS WAS 360 MG/L, AND MLSS WAS 2000 MG/L FOR INFLUENTS WITH SACCHAROSE; THE INFLUENT WITH FLOUR, WITH AN SVI OF 80 ML/G, ESS OF 100 MG/L, AND MLSS OF 4000 MG/L, SHOWS FASTER AND MORE CONSISTENT RECOVERY WITH THE PARTICULATE SUBSTRATE. THEREFORE, THE PROPOSAL IS TO ADD PARTICULATE SUBSTRATE-LIKE FLOUR TO ACTIVE SLUDGE PLANTS FACING BULKING. IT IS A CLEAN, INNOCUOUS AND SUSTAINABLE ALTERNATIVE TO PROCESSES THAT USE CHEMICAL REAGENTS.

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS WORK IS TO EVALUATE THE IMPACT OF INNOVATIVE MODIFICATIONS MADE TO CONVENTIONAL EFFLUENT CAPTURE AND DISCHARGE DEVICES USED IN SUBSURFACE FLOW WETLANDS (SSFW). THE MAIN MODIFICATIONS THAT HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED EXTEND THE INFLUENCE OF THE CAPTURE AND DISCHARGE DEVICE IN SUCH A WAY THAT THE SSFW WIDTH AND HEIGHT ARE FULLY COVERED. THIS IMPROVED INNOVATIVE DEVICE WAS APPLIED AND EVALUATED IN TWO SUBSURFACE FLOW WETLANDS, ONE ON A PILOT SCALE AND ONE ON A REAL SCALE. TO EVALUATE THE IMPACT OF THE INNOVATIVE DEVICE WITH RESPECT TO THE CONVENTIONAL ONE IN THE OPERATIONAL FUNCTIONING OF SUBSURFACE FLOW WETLANDS, THE ELIMINATION OF CHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND (COD) WAS MEASURED AND COMPARED. THE RESULTS SHOW THAT FOR THE INNOVATIVE DEVICE, THE COD REMOVAL WAS 10% HIGHER THAN FOR THE CONVENTIONAL DEVICE, CONFIRMING THE VALIDITY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF THE MODIFICATIONS IMPLEMENTED IN THE EFFLUENT CAPTURE AND DISCHARGE DEVICES USED IN SSFW.

CONCEPCIÓN POSEE CINCO LAGUNAS URBANAS QUE CUMPLEN DIVERSOS SERVICIOS AMBIENTALES (RECREACIÓN, EVENTUALES SUMINISTROS DE AGUA PARA FINES VARIADOS, ESTANQUES DE ACUMULACIÓN DE AGUAS LLUVIAS) PERO MUY PARTICULARMENTE CONSTITUYEN ESPACIOS DE BIODIVERSIDAD, Y ES AHÍ DONDE RADICA SU APORTE SUSTANCIAL Y SINGULAR PARA LA CIUDAD. EL OBJETIVO DE LA INVESTIGACIÓN AQUÍ PRESENTADA ES DEMOSTRAR CÓMO A PARTIR DEL DISEÑO Y EL USO DE HUMEDALES ARTIFICIALES, COMO TECNOLOGÍAS DE TRATAMIENTO A LAS AGUAS QUE INGRESAN A LAS LAGUNAS URBANAS DE CONCEPCIÓN, SE GENERA UN MEJORAMIENTO AMBIENTAL DE ESTAS LAGUNAS Y UN INCREMENTO DE LA BIODIVERSIDAD EN EL ENTORNO. EL ANÁLISIS DEL CUERPO DE AGUA SE BASA PRINCIPALMENTE EN UN ANÁLISIS PLANIMÉTRICO, A TRAVÉS DE LA OBSERVACIÓN Y EL REGISTRO FOTOGRÁFICO, Y EN UN ESTUDIO DE LOS INDICADORES DE CALIDAD FISICOQUÍMICA -TALES COMO NITRÓGENO TOTAL (NT) Y FÓSFORO (P)- Y AMBIENTAL, QUE SE EVALUARÁ CON LA PRESENCIA DE MACRÓFITAS. DENTRO DE LOS PRINCIPALES APORTES CONSTATADOS, DESTACA QUE LA INSTALACIÓN DE LOS HUMEDALES ARTIFICIALES ANTES DE LA ENTRADA A LA LAGUNA DISMINUYE CONSIDERABLEMENTE EL PODER CONTAMINANTE DE LAS AGUAS INGRESANTES Y, CON ELLO, LA CADENA DE DETERIORO TERMINA, MEJORANDO EL ECOSISTEMA URBANO. DE ESTA FORMA, LA PROPUESTA DEVIENE UN EFICIENTE INSTRUMENTO PARA AUMENTAR LA BIODIVERSIDAD Y LA CALIDAD DE VIDA DE LAS PERSONAS.