Análisis de carbón activado como filtro en el tratamiento de aguas residuales provenientes de la lavadora y lubricadora de autos “Heredia” de la ciudad de Riobamba

Abstract

The purpose of this research project was to analyze activated carbon as a filter in the pre-treatment of wastewater from washer and lubricators of cars. The project had a development time of 90 days in which the industry and its infrastructure were known, the operation of the filter was monitored daily, in which a flow rate of 0.105 lt/min was applied, which would pass through 35 lt of filter material; besides, inlet and outlet flows were determined, thus having consume flow rate of 0.474 m3/vehicle. Initial tests were performed on the raw wastewater; that is, without any type of treatment, having the following concentrations: Oils and fats = 232 mg/lt, COD = 808 mg/lt and BOD5 = 348 mg/lt; Once the filter was applied, the purification capacity of the material was evaluated every 10 days with laboratory tests, showing decreases from the beginning of its application until reaching the following concentrations in the last analysis: Oils and fats = 0.35 mg/lt, COD = 3 mg/lt and BOD5 = 1.2 mg/lt that showed decreases up to the permissible TULSMA limits. When evaluating the activated carbon efficiency, the following results were obtained: Oils and fats = 99.85%, COD = 99.63% and BOD5 = 99.66%; suggesting that the material is suitable to reduce levels of contamination in these parameters.