Processo de eletrocoagulação utilizando fonte elétrica e fotovoltaica no tratamento de efluente de indústria de bebidas

Abstract

The treatment of effluents emerges as an essential practice for the sustainability and preservation of water resources in the industrial sector. Electrocoagulation stands out as an environmentally friendly technique, as it does not require the use of chemical additives. This work analyzed the efficiency of the electrocoagulation (EC) process in the treatment of industrial effluents from a beverage industry, using conventional and photovoltaic power supply systems. For this, a 25.3 cm x 12.3 cm x 7.7 cm reactor with aluminum plates in rectangular format (13 cm x 6.8 cm x 4.5 cm) was used, adopting a 2³ factorial design. The spacing between the electrodes (0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 cm) and pH (6.5, 7.5 and 8.5) were evaluated, with treatment times ranging from 10 to 30 minutes and post-test decantation times ranging from 15 to 45 minutes. The operational parameters analyzed included pH, process time and electrode spacing, to determine which factor most interfered with the efficiency of the treatment, using the Pareto graph with a significance of 95%. The effluent quality indicators evaluated were the removal of True Color, Turbidity and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), whose removal efficiency was calculated. It was observed that the CE process showed high efficiency in the removal of indicators, reaching about 57% of COD removal and 98% of True Color and Turbidity, with performance variation associated with the factors studied. The photovoltaic system proved to be a sustainable and economically viable alternative, reducing the operating costs of the process compared to the conventional electrical source in the long term. The results reinforce the potential of integration between wastewater treatment technologies and renewable energy sources as a promising approach to environmental sustainability in the industrial sector.