Ponente
Descripción
Introduction: Pharmaceutical drugs, characterized by their environmental persistence, have been detected in water bodies (drinking water, groundwater, surface water and effluent wastewater) at concentrations up to μg/L level. Its presence is considered one of the causes for the observed resistence to antibiotic of some bacterial strains. Many methods for the removal and degradation of such pollutants, including electrochemical, photochemical, and biological methods, have been developed. However, these methods are expensive and sometimes inefficient for their complete removal from the treated water. Objective: The main objective of the present work is to design assembly and validate a pilot plant, based in the removal capacity of a suitable sorbent for the recovery of selected pharmaceutical contaminants from wastewater. Methods: The methods used were engineering design through AUTOCAD, specific software development for automation and control and the assembly with specialized technicians at Trabinox. The pilot plant design was carried out for a continuous operation with clean columns, allowing idle the exhausted ones for washing and rinsing. Results: The initial idea for process flow was modified using AUTOCAD software for allowing simultaneous operation and washing procedure. Automation and safety of the process was experimentally evaluated showing good control and safety as it was set up. Pilot plant assembly and testing was carried out with very good results over the general procedure of operation / washing / rinsing. Process operation was performed by flowing a laboratory waste containing 0.01 M dihydropyridine for evaluating removal effectiveness of the pilot plant. Conclusions: It was demonstrated that pilot plant operated properly with notably removal of the analite and the automatic response against deviation of operating parameters acts effectively.
