Evaluación de la eficiencia de la tuna (Opuntia ficus indica) como coagulante natural para el tratamiento de aguas residuales.

Abstract

The objective of the present degree work was to evaluate the efficiency of the (Opuntia ficus indica) tuna used as a natural coagulant for the treatment of industrial wastewater (dairy) in the Analytical Chemistry and Unitary Operations laboratory where the dehydration, the grinding and the sifting were done respectively; subsequently, treatability tests were carried out in the Water Quality laboratory, in order to achieve the objectives, the research was divided into 5 stages which were: Characterization of the raw material (Tuna), obtaining and characterization of the natural coagulant from tuna, sampling and characterization of the physical-chemical and microbiological properties of initial dairy wastewater, dairy wastewater treatment tests using the natural coagulant, characterization of the physical-chemical and microbiological properties of the treated dairy wastewater. For the first part we proceeded to select one of the cladodes of Tuna, to later remove the cuticle and perform a phytochemical analysis, to determine the pH and metals (Iron and Calcium); in the second stage, 20g were selected to carry out the proximal analysis of the natural coagulant in the laboratory of bromatology and animal nutrition of the School of Livestock Sciences. A result of 1% was obtained in the process performance. Concluding that the average efficiency of Tuna (Opuntia ficus indica) as a natural coagulant in the treatment of the dairy wastewater industry “Virgen del Cisne” obtained an initial value for colour and turbidity equal to 3900 Co/Pt and 361 NTU correspondingly and a final value for colour and turbidity equal to 1880 Co/Pt and 80 NTU respectively, reaching a colour removal percentage equal to 51.79% and a turbidity removal percentage equal to 77.84%. The average efficiency of the natural coagulant was equal to 44.78%.