Fotocatálisis/Adsorción para la Eliminación de Carbono Orgánico Total Presente en Vapor Condensado de Cocción generado en el Tratamiento de Subproductos Avícolas

Abstract

In this paper the removal of total organic carbon (TOC) present in an effluent generated by the rendering industry was evaluated, by photocatalysis (photo-Fenton) and activated carbon adsorption. The effluent considered in the study was the condensed steam cooking that has high environmental burdens so conventional biological and chemical treatments are insufficient or are economically unviable. To evaluate the effect of process variables, concentration of Fe (II) and dose of oxidizing agent (H2O2), the response surface methodology was used. In the adsorption study, the effect of pH, adsorbent dose and contact time was considered. For photocatalytic treatment the TOC removal percentage obtained was 69.2%, while for the adsorption process was 77.9%. After that, the TOC removal of two coupled systems was evaluated. For one of the systems, the effluent was pretreated by adsorption and subsequently subjected to photocatalytic treatment, reaching an overall degradation of 91.9%. This synergy between adsorption and photo-Fenton processes appears as a viable option for the treatment of this type of industrial effluents.