Tratamiento biológico de aguamieles del café y su reúso para fertirriego en pasto King grass (Pennisetum Purpureum x Pennisetum Typhoide)1

Abstract

ntroduction: The honey water generated in the wet coffee processing becomes one of the most contaminating byproducts of water sources and soil due to their high organic load, characterized by nutrients such as lipids, enzymes, proteins, sugars, among others. Objective: to evaluate the efficiency of biological processes aimed at reducing COD and BOD in an artisanal system for the treatment of coffee water and its potential use at the end of the process. Materials and methods: an artisanal system for the biological treatment of coffee wastewater was built, consisting of two biofilters inoculated with efficient microorganisms and a green lagoon that includes the use of aquatic plants such as Azolla filiculoides and Pistia stratiotes, the efficiency of the process was measured through the analysis of the variables; pH, total suspended solids, turbidity, BOD and COD, Results: Removal efficiencies of up to 93.4 % for BOD and 94.24 % for COD were achieved, thereby ensuring compliance with the guidelines outlined in Article 9 of Resolution 631 of 2015 concerning the discharge of spent water. Subsequently, the treated spent waters were employed for fertigation, serving as irrigation for oneyear-old King grass plots. A comparison was made with untreated plots. The fertigated plots exhibited a high biomass production (223 %) and maintained the nutritional composition of the grass without impacting soil characteristics. Conclusion: The artisanal treatment system showed high percentages of removal of organic load from the coffee wastewater, enabling its reuse for King grass fertigation with high biomass yields.