Diseño de un prototipo de una celda de electrocoagulación para el tratamiento de las aguas residuales de industrias lácteas: caso combilac

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to construct and implement a laboratory-scale electrocoagulation cell for the treatment of waste water from dairy industries, This technology addresses the problem of water resource pollution in an industrial sector that has high levels of pollution when dumping. The prototype was applied to the case of the company Combilac, which does not treat the waste water generated in its production prior to discharge. Methodology implemented for the execution of the project had three stages first, samples were taken directly from the discharge, and were analyzed to determine their physicochemical parameters in the environmental engineering laboratory of the campus of the University Santo Tomas sectional Tunja. In the second stage, the dimensions for the design and construction of the electrocoagulation cell were determined, taking into account the number of electrodes, current intensity, submerged area and volume to be treated. Finally, in the third stage, the efficiency of pollutant removal was evaluated using the electrocoagulation treatment system. According to the above, the removal percentages were obtained by means of the initial and final concentrations of the pollutants present in the waste water, where a significant reduction in the concentrations of the analyzed parameters was evidenced. Among the most relevant were the total suspended solids with a removal greater than 96% and turbidity greater than 65%. According to this, it was concluded that the electrocoagulation cell presented an optimal efficiency in the decrease of most of the parameters analyzed.