Comparação entre planejamento estatístico experimental e análise dimensional em operações de mistura e separação para sistema óleo-água

This work aims to determine a better methodology to help predicting some operational parameters to a new design of mixer-settler on treating wastewater produced by petroleum industry, called MDIF (Misturador-Decantador à Inversão de Fases/ Mixer-Settler based on Phase Inversion MSPI). The data from this research were obtained from the wastewater treatment unit, called MSPI-TU, installed on a wastewater treatment plant (WTP) of PETROBRAS/UO-RNCE. The importance in determining the better methodology to predict the results of separation and extraction efficiency of the equipment, contributes significantly to determine the optimum operating variables for the control of the unit. The study was based on a comparison among the experimental efficiency (E) obtained by operating MSPI-TU, the efficiency obtained by experimental design equation (Eplan) from the software Statistica Experimental Design® (version 7.0), and the other obtained from a modeling equation based on a dimensional analysis (Ecalc). The results shows that the experimental design equation gives a good prediction of the unit efficiencies with better data reliability, regarding to the condition before a run operation. The average deviation between the proposed by statistic planning model equation and experimental data was 0.13%. On the other hand, the efficiency calculated by the equation which represents the dimensional analysis, may result on important relative deviations (up 70%). Thus, the experimental design is confirmed as a reliable tool, with regard the experimental data processing of the MSPI-TU

Avaliação da eficiência de filtros anaeróbios na remoção de coliformes fecais e ovos de helmintos

The technology of anaerobic reactors for sanitary wastewater treatment has been extensively developed in Brazil, and today it is practically consolidated. They present several advantages, such as low construction and operating costs, and low sludge production, the anaerobic reactors are an attractive alternative to minimize problematic lack of basic sanitation in urban areas, and also of the rural areas. The anaerobic filters have been widely used in Brazil. It produces an effluent with low concentration of organic matter and solids suspended, besides conserving the nutrients, therefore, it is good for use in irrigation, but the practice must be associated with knowledge of the pathogens presence. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of anaerobic filters in removal faecal coliforms and helminth eggs, and to verify if the effluent can be used for agricultural purposes, according to the World Organization of Health (WHO, 1989). The protocol used to enumerate helminths eggs was the modified Bailenger method, (Ayres and Mara, 1996) recommended by WHO for evaluation of raw effluent and treated effluent. The membrane filtration method was utilized to determine the concentrations of faecal coliforms. Three different systems of sewer treatment composed by anaerobic filters were analyzed. The results, in a general analysis, showed that all the researched systems reached a larger removal than 93% to helminth eggs, resulting in an effluent with smaller average than 1 egg/L. One of these systems, Sistema RN, reached a larger removal than 99%, confirming the good performance of the anaerobic filters in removal helminths eggs. Even with low concentrations of eggs in the influent, the filters were capable to remove this parameter efficiently. About faecal coliforms, it was observed for all the researched systems an effluent with 106 CFU/100mL. The high concentrations to faecal coliforms in the effluent just allow reuse for restricted irrigation, in agreement with the guidelines of WHO. Although the researched systems have not removed faecal coliforms efficiently, the results indicated a good efficiency of the anaerobic filters in removal helminth eggs

Avaliação da eficiência de lagoas de estabilização no tratamento de resíduos esgotados de fossas sépticas

Because of disability in public policy development in mind to attend issues of sanitation in the municipalities, companies known as "clean-blue" appeared proposing to solve a simple collection and management of wastewater produced in single or multifamily residences, commercial, hospitals, etc. In the case of an activity in which there are no worries about the fate of sewage, emerged some doubts about the degree of health and environmental safety in these companies. Traditionally, most of them makes the provision of waste depleted soil or wetland, open, usually located on the outskirts of cities (MENESES, 2001). In turn, the sludge from septic tanks exhausted, provided no technical criteria - in the soil, rivers and as an agricultural fertilizer put in risk the health of the population and environmental quality. This work was entered in the search network 5 of the Notice of the Research Program in Sanitation - PROSAB-5, aimed to study the theme 'Characterization and study of alternative ways of treating sludge from septic tanks in the city of Natal, RN', proposing to evaluate the performance of the use of stabilization ponds as a system to handle waste from septic tanks exhausted. A series of lakes studied belong to one of the largest clean-pit of Natal, consisting of two anaerobic ponds, one facultative and maturation, and a tank disinfection, the wastewater being released in the Potengi River. Samples were collected between the months of October 2007 to October 2008, at six points previously defined and judged as more appropriate to what is proposed study. The analysis results in field and laboratory showed the most significant removal of COD (88.93%), total suspended solids (94.87%), organic nitrogen (66.87%) and thermotolerant coliforms (99.88%). Some results have not reached the expected because the system under study had operating problems that have undermined the efficiency of the reactors

Controle sanitário e ambiental de um projeto de reúso em um complexo de prédios corporativos

The study that resulted in this dissertation was developed at OU RNCE PETROBRAS, in Natal, which implemented a project of rational use and reuse of water, including use of wastewater from a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) already in place, diluted with water from own wells for irrigation of green area of the building complex corporate enterprise. Establish a methodology that can serve as guidelines for future projects controlled reuse of water like this was the objective of this research. Been proposed, implemented and evaluated three instruments of sanitary and environmental control: 1) adaptation of sewage treatment plant and quality control of the treated effluent 2) analysis of soil-nutrient interaction in the irrigated area, 3) knowledge of the local hydrogeology, especially with regard to the direction of flow of the aquifer and location of collection wells of Companhia de Águas e Esgotos do Rio Grande do Norte (CAERN) situated in the surroundings. These instruments have proven sufficient and appropriate to ensure the levels of sanitary and environmental control proposed and studied, which were: a) control of water quality off the STP and the output of the irrigation reservoir, b) control of water quality sub surface soil and assessment of progress on soil composition, c) assessment of water quality in the aquifer. For this, we must: 1) establishing the monitoring plan of the STP and its effluent quality sampling points and defining the parameters of analysis, improve the functioning of that identifying the adequacy of flow and screening as the main factors of operational control, and increase the efficiency of the station to a relatively low cost, using additional filters, 2) propose, implement and adapt simple collectors to assess the quality of water percolating into the soil of the irrigated area, 3) determine the direction of groundwater flow in the area study and select the wells for monitoring of the aquifer.

Eficiência de uma ETE em escala real composta por reator UASB seguido de lodo ativado

In the state of Rio Grande do Norte (RN), Brazil, there are about 80 sewage treatment systems being the predominant technology waste stabilization ponds. The Baldo s WWTP , due to its location and low availability of area, was designed as a hybrid conventional system (UASB reactor followed by activated sludge with biodiscs) at a tertiary level, being the most advanced WWTP in the State and also with the larger treatment capacity (1620 m3/h) .The paper presents the results of its performance based on samples collections from May to December 2012. Composite samples of the effluent of the grit chamber, UASB reactors, anoxic chambers, aeration tanks and treated effluent were collected weekly, every 4 hours for 24 hours. The results showed that the WWTP effluent presented adequate ranges of temperatures, pH and DO, however removal efficiencies of BOD and TSS were below the predicted by design. The UASB reactors also showed removals of BOD and TSS less than expected, due to the accumulation of sludge in the reactors, which eventually, was washed out in the effluent. The nitrification process was not satisfactory mainly due to problems in the oxygen distribution in the aeration tanks. The removal of ammonia and TKN were high, probably by the assimilation process

Avaliação da eficiência da remoção de matéria orgânica e microbiológica de três sistemas de lagoas de estabilização em série na Grande Natal-RN: Beira Rio, Jardim Lola I e Jardim Lola II

Waste stabilization ponds are the main technology in use for domestic sewage treatment in Rio Grande do Norte State (RN), northeast Brazil. The are around 80 systems, constructed mainly by municipal city halls, being series comprised by a primary facultative pond followed by two maturation ponds the most used configuration. Due to problems related with the production and destination of sludge and generation of bad odors, the designers have avoided the use of anaerobic lagoons. The majority of systems are rarely monitored to verify their efficiencies and to get new project parameters for future designing. This work has as purpose to make a diagnosis of efficiency of three series of waste stabilization pond series (WSPS) of Jardim Lola 1, Jardim Lola 2 and Beira Rio, located in the North Zone of the city of the Natal/RN, treating domestic raw sewage, on the removal of organic matter and thermotolerant coliform, comparing the operational conditions of the systems this inside of the bands foreseen in the project, through parameters BOD5, QOD, thermotolerant coliforms, dissolved oxygen, pH, temperature, ammoniac nitrogen, total and suspended solids. The work was carried through in the WSPS, all constituted by a primary facultative pond followed by two maturation ponds. Socioeconomic characteristics of population are predominantly low and all the plants are very near of the contributing basins. The series were monitored from of May the November of 2002, totalizing 20 collections of grab samples of raw sewage and ponds effluents between 8:00 and 9:50 h. The main aspect to be detached by the results was the great concentration of organic matter (BOD and COD) and microorganisms the raw sewage which were around two times more concentrated than those values foreseen one in project. Considering all series the highest removals of organic matter were observed in system Beira Rio (84 and 78% of BOD and COD, respectively), which presented high hydraulic detention time (TDH = 89 days). On the other hand, Jardim Lola 1 and Jardim Lola 2 presented a much lower values of HDT (36 days and 18 days respectively) and their removals of BOD and COD were the same (76% and 60%, respectively). The Beira Rio WSPS, was the most efficient verified in relation to solids and ammonia, proving the great influence of the operational variables such as HDT and applied surface organic loadings on the performance of pond series. Although the treatment plants have reached efficiencies of thermotolerant coliforms around 99,999%, the concentrations in the final effluent can be considered very high for launching in aquatic bodies, particularly those produced by Jardim Lola 1 and Jardim Lola 2 series

Caminhos para a universalização dos serviços de água e esgotos no Brasil: a atuação das entidades reguladoras para indução da eficiência dos prestadores de serviços

The deficit of water and sewerage services is a historic problem in Brazil. The introduction of a new regulatory framework, in 2007, presented ways intending to overcome these deficits, among them, the providers efficiency improvement. This thesis aims to analyze the regulators performance regarding its ability to induce the efficiency of the Brazilian water and sewerage services providers. To this end, an analytical approach based on a sequential explanatory strategy was used, and it consists of three steps. In the first step, the Data Envelopment Analysis ( DEA ) was used to measure the providers efficiency in 2006 and 2011. The results show that the average efficiency may be considered high; however significant inefficiencies among the 29 analyzed providers were detected. The ones in the Southeast region showed better performance level and Northeast had the lowest. The local and the private providers were more efficient on average. In 2006 and 2011 the average performance was higher among non-regulated providers. In 2006 the group regulated by local agencies had the best average performance, in 2011, the best performance was the group regulated by the consortium agencies. To analyse the second step was used the Malmquist Index, it pointed that the productivity between 2006 and 2011 dropped. The analysis through decomposing Malmquist Index showed a shift of technical efficiency frontier to a lower level, however was detected a small provider s advance towards the frontier. Only the Midwest region recorded progress in overall productivity. The deterioration in the total factor productivity was higher among regional providers but the local ones and the private agencies moved quickly to the frontier level. The providers regulated from 2007 showed less decrease on the total productivity and the results of the catch up effect were more meaningful. In the last step, the regulators standardization activity analyses noted that there are agencies that had not issued rules until 2011. The most standards topics discussed in the issued rules were the tariff adjustments and the setting of general conditions for the provision and use of services; in another hand, the least covered topics were new technologies incentive and the introduction of efficiency-inducing regulatory mechanisms and productivity gains for price reviews. Regulators created from 2007 were more active proportionately. Even with the advent of the regulatory framework and the creation of new regulatory bodies, the evidence points to a reality in which the actions of these agencies have not been ensuring that providers of water and sewage, regulated by them, has achieved better performance. The non- achievement of regulatory goals can be explained by the incipient level of performance of the Brazilian regulatory authorities, which should be strengthened because of its potential contribution to the Brazilian basic sanitation department

Qualidade de vida, eficiência mastigatória e presença de disfunção temporomandibular em usuários de prótese parcial removível com arco dental curto inferior

Even nowadays there is in Brasil a large number of edentulous and a precarious financial condition of most of the population. In addition, World Health Organization aims for oral health, which consists on the maintenance of a natural dentition, functional and aesthetic composed of at least 20 teeth, without need of prosthetic intervention throughout life. From this and considering the lack of researches about the permanence of edentulous spaces in the oral cavity, and also avoiding overtreatment, this research has been proposed. Thus, the aim was to evaluate the effect of different lengths of the shortened lower dental arch in the presence or absence of a removable partial denture (RPD) on masticatory function, quality of life and occurrence of temporomandibular dysfunction. To achieve this goal, we compared the masticatory efficiency (colorimetric test), the oral comfort through the analysis of the impact of oral health in quality of life (OHIP-14), the presence of temporomandibular dysfunction (RDC/TMD) and the general quality of life (WHOQOL) of patients with shortened dental arches (SDA) (n=60), which is an arch with a reduction of teeth starting posteriorly, and patients with complete dental arch (Complete DA) (n = 34). The group of patients whit SDA was divided among PPR wears (PPD + SDA) (n = 17) and non-wears (n = 43). The population of this study consisted on patients who received or looked for treatment at the clinics of the Department of Dentistry of UFRN, from clinical analysis and records. The sample was chosen by convenience. For statistical analysis, it was a database in SPSS 17.0, followed by descriptive analysis with frequencies, absolute values, tests of central tendency and variability. The statistical tests used were chi-squared and analysis of variance as well as Tukey s post test, when applicable, all with a 95% confidence level. The results shown a prevalence of TMD of 47,1% among patients using PRP and 69,8% among those who didn t, but this result wasn t statistically significant. The mean of the results of masticatory efficiency, WHOQOL and OHIP didn t show association to the presence or absence of PPR and to the lower number of occlusal units of the patients (0, 1, 2 or more occlusal). The association only occurred among the different groups of SDA and the patients with complete dental arch. Taking into account the results, it could be observed that studied patients with low posterior support using lower PRP didn t have better masticatory efficiency, general quality of life, less impacts of their oral conditions in quality of life or not even less temporomandibular dysfunction or better masticatory efficiency when compared to those who didn t use the prosthesis

Avaliação genética da eficiência reprodutiva em vacas pardo-suíças por meio da análise de sobrevivência

Among the traits of economic importance to dairy cattle livestock those related to sexual precocity and longevity of the herd are essential to the success of the activity, because the stayability time of a cow in a herd is determined by their productive and reproductive lives. In Brazil, there are few studies about the reproductive efficiency of Swiss-Brown cows and no study was found using the methodology of survival analysis applied to this breed. Thus, in the first chapter of this study, the age at first calving from Swiss-Brown heifers was analyzed as the time until the event by the nonparametric method of Kaplan-Meier and the gamma shared frailty model, under the survival analysis methodology. Survival and hazard rate curves associated with this event were estimated and identified the influence of covariates on such time. The mean and median times at the first calving were 987.77 and 1,003 days, respectively, and significant covariates by the Log-Rank test, through Kaplan-Meier analysis, were birth season, calving year, sire (cow s father) and calving season. In the analysis by frailty model, the breeding values and the frailties of the sires (fathers) for the calving were predicted modeling the risk function of each cow as a function of the birth season as fixed covariate and sire as random covariate. The frailty followed the gamma distribution. Sires with high and positive breeding values possess high frailties, what means shorter survival time of their daughters to the event, i.e., reduction in the age at first calving of them. The second chapter aimed to evaluate the longevity of dairy cows using the nonparametric Kaplan-Meier and the Cox and Weibull proportional hazards models. It were simulated 10,000 records of the longevity trait from Brown-Swiss cows involving their respective times until the occurrence of five consecutive calvings (event), considered here as typical of a long-lived cow. The covariates considered in the database were age at first calving, herd and sire (cow s father). All covariates had influence on the longevity of cows by Log-Rank and Wilcoxon tests. The mean and median times to the occurrence of the event were 2,436.285 and 2,437 days, respectively. Sires that have higher breeding values also have a greater risk of that their daughters reach the five consecutive calvings until 84 months

O papel das rotas e da obtenção de informações sobre a eficiência no forrageio de dinoponera quadriceps em ambiente natural

In this study, we investigated the role of routes and information attainment for the queenless ant species Dinoponera quadriceps foraging efficiency. Two queenless ant colonies were observed in an area of Atlantic secondary Forest at the FLONA-ICMBio of Nisia Floresta, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, northeastern Brazil, at least once a week. In the first stage of the study, we observed the workers, from leaving until returning to the colony. In the second stage, we introduced a acrylic plate (100 x 30 x 0,8 cm) on a selected entrance of the nest early in the morning before the ants left the nest. All behavioral recordings were done through focal time and all occurence samplings. The recording windows were of 15 minutes with 1 minute interval, and 5 minute intervals between each observation window. Foraging was the main activity when the workers were outside the nest. There was a positive correlation between time outside the nest and distance travelled by the ants. These variables influenced the proportion of resource that was taken to the nest, that is, the bigger its proportion, the longer the time outside and distance travelled during the search. That proportion also influenced the time the worker remained in the nest before a new trip, the bigger the proportion of the item, the shorter was the time in the nest. During all the study, workers showed fidelity to the route and to the sectors in the home range, even when the screen was in the ant´s way, once they deviated and kept the route. The features of foraging concerning time, distance, route and flexibility to go astray by the workers indicate that decisions are made by each individual and are optimal in terms of a cost-benefit relation. The strategy chosen by queenless ants fits the central place foraging and marginal value theorem theories and demonstrate its flexibility to new informations. This indicates that the workers can learn new environmental landmarks to guide their routes

A influência da prática meditativa sobre parâmetros psicofisiológicos e tarefas de memória operacional em indivíduos saudáveis

Meditation is described as a method for improving attention and promoting psychological and emotional stability, presenting favourable results on memory and stress tolerance as well. Studies have shown differences in physiological and psychological measurements between meditators and non-meditators. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of regular meditation practice on working memory, psychological measurements and quality of life of healthy practitioners. We carried out a comparative study with meditators and non-meditators. Working memory tests and standard inventories of life quality, anxiety, mood, sleep quality, depression and stress were applied. Our study showed that meditators presented better scores in parameters indicative of life quality, mood, depression and stress when compared with non-meditators. Moreover, there was a trend in best performance of meditators in memory tasks (forward digit span task and Hanoi tower). These findings corroborate other studies showing that regular meditation can provide an improvement in general quality of life and affecting positively the behavioral and attentional functions in individuals

Reavaliação da eficiência de óleo de coco saponificado e de sua microemulsão como inibidores de corrosão em uma célula eletroquímica

An interesting development in surfactants science and technology is their application as corrosion inhibitors, since they act as protective films over anodic and cathodic surfaces. This work aims to investigate the efficiency of saponified coconut oil (SCO) as corrosion inhibitor and of microemulsified system (SCO + butanol + kerosene oil + distilled water), in saline medium, using an adapted instrumented cell, via techniques involving linear polarization resistance (LPR) and mass loss coupons (MLC). For this, curves of efficiency versus SCO concentration (ranging between 0 and 75 ppm) have been constructed. According to the obtained results, the following efficiency levels were reached with OCS: 98% at a 75 ppm concentration via the LPR method and 95% at 75 ppm via the MLC method. The microemulsified system, for a concentration of 15 ppm of SCO, obtained maximum inhibition of 97% (LPR) and 93% (MLC). These data indicate that it is possible to optimize the use of SCO in similar applications. Previous works have demonstrated that maximal efficiencies below 90% are attained, typically 65% as free molecules and 77% in microemulsified medium, via the LPR method in a different type of cell. Therefore, it can be concluded that the adapted instrumented cell (in those used methods) showed to be an important tool in this kind of study and the SCO was shown effective in the inhibition of the metal

Avaliação termoanalítica da eficiência de antioxidantes na estabilidade oxidativa do biodiesel de mamona

The biodiesel is defined as the mono-alkyl ester derived from long-chain fatty acids, from renewable sources such as vegetable oils or animal fat, whose use is associated with the replacement of fossil fuels in diesel engine cycle. The biodiesel is susceptible to oxidation when exposed to air and this process of oxidation affects the quality of fuel, mainly due to long periods of storage. Because of this, the oxidation stability has been the focus of numerous researches since it directly affects the producers, distributors and users of fuel. One of the possibilities to increase the resistance of biodiesel is the autoxidation treatment with inhibitors of oxidation. The antioxidants can be used as potential inhibitors of the effects of oxidation on the kinematic viscosity and the index of acidity of biodiesel, thereby increasing oxidative stability. This work aims to examine the efficiency of antioxidants, α-tocopherol and butylated hydroxy-toluene (BHT), added the biodiesel content of remembrance through Pressurized-Differential Scanning Calorimetry (P-DSC), Thermogravimetry (TG) and Petrology. The results showed that the use of antioxidant BHT, at the concentration of 2000ppm, increased resistance to oxidation of the biodiesel and oxidative induction time (OIT), which is a better result as antioxidant than the α-tocopherol. With the thermogravimetric analysis, it was observed that the biodiesel presented an initial decomposition temperature of lower tendency than that of oil, demonstrating to be more volatile, bearing great similarity to the diesel and being characterized as an alternative fuel. The rheological analysis indicated that each sample of biodiesel behaved as a Newtonian fluid

Eficiência do processo de obtenção do biodiesel de girassol usando o catalisador KNO3/Al2O3

It is known that the head office world energetics is leaning in the fossil fuels. However, the world panorama is changing quickly, for linked reasons to three of the humanity's great concerns in that century beginning: environment, global economy and energy. The biodiesel production is based on the transesterificação of vegetable oils or animal fats, using catalysts homogeneous or heterogeneous. The process of heterogeneous transesterificação presents lower conversions in comparison with the homogeneous, however, it doesn't present corrosion problems and it reduces to the occurrence of parallel reactions as saponification. In this sense, this work has for purpose the synthesis of a heterogeneous catalyst, KNO3/Al2O3, that soon afterwards was used in the reaction of transesterificação of the oil of the Helianthus annuus L. (sunflower). The solid materials (it supports and catalyst) they were analyzed by diffraction of ray-X (XRD) and electronic microscope of sweeping (MEV). After the analysis of Al2O3, a structure monophase amorphous tetragonal was verified, with characteristic patterns of that material, what could not be visualized in the difratograma of the catalyst. The biodiesel obtained with 4% wt. of KNO3/Al2O3 it was what obtained a better cinematic viscosity 8,3 mm2/s, comparing with the norms of ANP, and it also presented the best conversion tax in ethyl ésteres, in accordance with the quantitative measure starting from TG, that was of 60%. While the biodiesel with 6% wt. and with 8% wt. of KNO3/Al2O3 it was it that no transesterificou, because it was observed in the analysis termogravimétrica of those two materials, a single thermal event, that it corresponds the decomposition or volatilization of the triglycerides

Remoção, por flotação, de óleo em águas produzidas na indústria de petróleo: eficiência e modelagem do processo

The separation oil-water by the use of flotation process is characterized by the involvement between the liquid and gas phases. For the comprehension of this process, it s necessary to analyze the physical and chemical properties command float flotation, defining the nature and forces over the particles. The interface chemistry has an important role on the flotation technology once, by dispersion of a gas phase into a liquid mixture the particles desired get stuck into air bubbles, being conduced to a superficial layer where can be physically separated. Through the study of interface interaction involved in the system used for this work, was possible to apply the results in an mathematical model able to determine the probability of flotation using a different view related to petroleum emulsions such as oil-water. The terms of probability of flotation correlate the collision and addition between particles of oil and air bubbles, that as more collisions, better is the probability of flotation. The additional probability was analyzed by the isotherm of absorption from Freundlich, represents itself the add probability between air bubbles and oil particles. The mathematical scheme for float flotation involved the injected air flow, the size of bubbles and quantity for second, the volume of float cell, viscosity of environment and concentration of demulsifier. The results shown that the float agent developed by castor oil, pos pH variation, salt quantity, temperature, concentration and water-oil quantity, presented efficient extraction of oil from water, up to 95%, using concentrations around 11 ppm of demulsifier. The best results were compared to other commercial products, codified by ―W‖ and ―Z‖, being observed an equivalent demulsifier power between Agflot and commercial product ―W‖ and superior to commercial product ―Z‖