Influência da pressão e da vazão de concentrado sobre o desempenho de ultrafiltração no pós-tratamento de esgotos

Despite the numerous advantages resulting from the use of membrane filters technology, intrinsic limitations fouling process become relevant to its applicability. The control of operating conditions is an important tool to mitigate fouling and achieve good levels of efficiency. In this sense, the objective of this study was to investigate the effect of transmembrane pressure and concentrate flow in the performance of ultrafiltration, applied to the post-treatment of domestic sewage. The process was evaluated and optimized by varying the pressure (0.5 and 1.5 bar) and the concentrate flow (300 and 600 L/h), using a 22 factorial design, in order to investigate the effects on the permeate flow and quality of effluents generated at each operating condition. We evaluated the following quality indicators for permeate: pH, electrical conductivity, total suspended solids, turbidity, calcium and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD). In all tests, we observed marked reduction in the permeate flux at the early stages, followed by a slow decline that lasted until it reaches a relatively constant level, around 120 minutes of filtration. The increased pressure resulted in a higher initial permeate flux, but the decrease of the flow with time is greater for tests at higher pressure, indicating a more pronounced fouling process. On the other hand, increasing the concentrate flow resulted in a slower decline in permeate flux with the filtration time. Regarding the quality of permeate, the transmembrane pressure of 0,5 bar was the one that allowed better results, and was statistically confirmed through the two-way ANOVA test with repeated measures, significant effect of pressure on the turbidity of the permeate. The concentrate flow, in turn, showed no significant influence on any of the quality parameters. Thus, we conclude that, from an economic and environmental point of view, it is more interesting to operate ultrafiltration membrane system with a lower concentrate flow associated with a low transmembrane pressure, since under these conditions will produce less waste, and the permeate will present lower concentrations of the analyzed constituent, especially lower turbidity.

Utilização de membranas no pós-tratamento de esgotos para reuso do permeado e aproveitamento do concentrado

The use of membrane filters in the post-treatment of sewage has been increasingly employed to obtain water quality, applicable to various forms of reuse. Despite the advantages presented using the permeate membranes, such as saving water and reducing water pollution, the concentrate generated in the process ends up being an inconvenience to the deployment of this technology due to lack of sustainable solutions for their management. Thus, the main objective of this research was to evaluate the use of membranes for microfiltration, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration and reverse osmosis concentrated in agriculture, using it as liquid fertilizer. The permeated membranes were also assessed in order to identify activities in which they could be reused. Five configurations were established from four types of membranes, so that each configuration represents a different system. The tests were conducted in batch mode, with triplicate for each configuration. The results indicated that permeated the microfiltration and ultrafiltration can be used in urban areas, in non-potable uses. Have the nanofiltration permeate can be reused in the industry, replacement cooling towers, and other non -potable uses required in the manufacturing unit. The permeate obtained in reverse osmosis met the intended uses for nanofiltration as well as the standards required for boiler feed, adding alkalizing being required to raise the pH to the recommended value. Concentrates generated in nanofiltration and reverse osmosis can be availed as liquid fertilizer in agriculture, but they must be diluted in the irrigation water, in order to adjust the salt concentration allowed for the least tolerant crops patterns

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

On fuzzy ideals and fuzzy filters of fuzzy lattices

In the literature there are several proposals of fuzzi cation of lattices and ideals concepts. Chon in (Korean J. Math 17 (2009), No. 4, 361-374), using the notion of fuzzy order relation de ned by Zadeh, introduced a new notion of fuzzy lattice and studied the level sets of fuzzy lattices, but did not de ne a notion of fuzzy ideals for this type of fuzzy lattice. In this thesis, using the fuzzy lattices de ned by Chon, we de ne fuzzy homomorphism between fuzzy lattices, the operations of product, collapsed sum, lifting, opposite, interval and intuitionistic on bounded fuzzy lattices. They are conceived as extensions of their analogous operations on the classical theory by using this de nition of fuzzy lattices and introduce new results from these operators. In addition, we de ne ideals and lters of fuzzy lattices and concepts in the same way as in their characterization in terms of level and support sets. One of the results found here is the connection among ideals, supports and level sets. The reader will also nd the de nition of some kinds of ideals and lters as well as some results with respect to the intersection among their families. Moreover, we introduce a new notion of fuzzy ideals and fuzzy lters for fuzzy lattices de ned by Chon. We de ne types of fuzzy ideals and fuzzy lters that generalize usual types of ideals and lters of lattices, such as principal ideals, proper ideals, prime ideals and maximal ideals. The main idea is verifying that analogous properties in the classical theory on lattices are maintained in this new theory of fuzzy ideals. We also de ne, a fuzzy homomorphism h from fuzzy lattices L and M and prove some results involving fuzzy homomorphism and fuzzy ideals as if h is a fuzzy monomorphism and the fuzzy image of a fuzzy set ~h(I) is a fuzzy ideal, then I is a fuzzy ideal. Similarly, we prove for proper, prime and maximal fuzzy ideals. Finally, we prove that h is a fuzzy homomorphism from fuzzy lattices L into M if the inverse image of all principal fuzzy ideals of M is a fuzzy ideal of L. Lastly, we introduce the notion of -ideals and - lters of fuzzy lattices and characterize it by using its support and its level set. Moreover, we prove some similar properties in the classical theory of - ideals and - lters, such as, the class of -ideals and - lters are closed under intersection. We also de ne fuzzy -ideals of fuzzy lattices, some properties analogous to the classical theory are also proved and characterize a fuzzy -ideal on operation of product between bounded fuzzy lattices L and M and prove some results.