Researchers of the University of Almería (UAL) and the Solar Platform of Almería (PSA) have developed a method of waste treatment water, pertinent of industrial uses, that aúna the biological action of the bacteria with the power of the sun. Of this form, include this type of energetic source in the first phase of depuración of waste water, in which they have checked his upper efficiency to 90%, by what reduces the length of the process of treatment.
The industrial waters can not treat by means of the same biological systems that the urban, but they require specific methods in function of the contaminantes that contain. Thus, the researchers almerienses have used a process that combines both methods, the degradation through the solar power and the action of the bacteria for descontaminar. By means of this new technical, has checked that the solar power is efficient like treatment in the first phase of the process of depuración in 90% of the occasions. In opinion of the manager of the group of Chemical Engineering of the UAL, José Antonio Sánchez Pérez, the new method reduces the length of the process of depuración. “The necessary time to debug a volume of one thousand litres of water -in general terms, since this miscellaneous according to the composition and load of the waters to treat- is of some five hours for the solar treatment and of 24 to 36 hours for the biological procedure”, puntualiza.
In a first phase, the studies realised with an alone crop of bacteria, specifically Pseudomonas putida. Once checked his efficiency, moved to fangos active of debugger. These slimes contain a mix of populations of different bacteria, funguses and seaweeds that increase the potentiality of degradation. That is to say, they achieve similar results although to greater speed. After this phase of biological proofs with the material of depuración, the Centre of Investigation of the Solar Power (Ciesol) and the mixed institute of the UAL- PSA (CIEMAT), effected the essays to level of laboratory. For this, employed two fotorreactores tubular where generated the first reactions. Finalised the experiments, the researchers initiated the to scale industrial proofs. The following step consists in the demonstration of the efficiency combined of these treatments using the solar power like a tertiary process, in the last phase of the process of depuración. “We want to pose the fotocatálisis solar like a more sustainable alternative for the tertiary treatment”, concludes Sánchez Pérez.
The study has carried out thanks to the financials of 108.000 euros of the Ministry of Science and Innovation.
Responsible for this project of sewage treatment researchers.
