Development of bacterial formulation to remove NH4, COD and color in landfill leachate

Abstract

The Brazil still faces difficulties in dealing with integrated solid waste management in an appropriate manner, which leads the country to an emergency situation of environmental and public health. According to the Brazilian Association of Public Cleaning and Special Waste Companies (Abrelpe, 2017), 78.4 million tons of solid wastes were generated in the country and 91.2% were destined for landfills. This number shows that 6.9 million tons of waste were not collected and consequently had an inadequate destination. According to the law, all Brazilian dumps should have been closed until 2014, the deadline given by the National Solid Waste Policy through Law 12305/10 (PNRS, 2010), which did not happen. Once deposited in the soil, the waste undergoes the action of microorganisms and together with rainwater produce the landfill leachate, popularly known as slurry, recalcitrant and toxic pollutant of dark color and unpleasant odor, difficult to remove in treatment plants. Ammonia (NH3), caused by protein degradation; COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand), organic and inorganic compounds indicator and color, the latter caused by the presence of suspended and dissolved solids as phenolic compounds humic and fulvic acids, are responsible for this toxicity and recalcitrance, contaminating water resources, and consequently the health of the population. In this context bioremediation, addition of specialized microorganisms, native or not, to optimize the biodegradation process, may represent a quick way to treat these parameters. However, the acceptance and appreciation of this bioremediation technology, in applications such as the treatment of effluents and contaminated areas, are more strongly developed in the North American and European market. These dominate the sales of products formulated at high costs, which makes it impossible to use them continuously in countries that do not have this technology. The Foxwater Water and Sanitation Company of the Foxpar Group, was newly formed, and works in the national market providing and monitoring industrial effluent treatment plants having specialties the treatment of leachate from landfills. It has a Technological Center where feasibility research is being carried out for the production of the biotechnological product (PIPE FASE I) and where the treatability tests will be carried out that will allow the project to be developed through application in the pilot and in the field (PIPE PHASE II).This step will allow the production of the product based on the results of the initial phases. This Technological Center was established with the intention of developing biotechnological products with native microorganisms in Brazil to treat and reduce the recalcitrance and toxicity of industrial effluents and leachate from landfills without impacting the site to be treated with exotic microorganisms that can be considered invasive. The positive impacts of the feasibility of producing this biotechnological product inserted in this project, besides meeting the needs and expectations of the clients and having a significant impact on our market, would be: the independence of imports of these products, continuity of use, since they are always discontinued, technical manpower that monitors and maintains the applications competitive prices and discharge of uncontaminated effluents into water bodies. Moreover, it takes advantage of the favorable environmental conditions of the country with the greatest biodiversity on the planet, for the production of bioremediators based in native microrganisms. (AU)