The cheese whey represents the most important reject of the industry of dairy products, mainly due to its expressive generated volume. The cheese whey is a problematic substrate under the environmental point of view, presenting high amounts of carbohydrates, proteins and fats, giving it a chemical demand of oxygen of approximately a hundred times larger than the one of the domestic waste. An alternative for its treatment would be the anaerobic fermentation, which reduces its pollutant impact, making possible even the recovery of the energy from the formed biogas. However, the low biodegradation rate of the fats in the cheese whey difficulties the anaerobic treatment, reducing the mass transfer, leading to biomass loss and to the collapse of the reactor. In this context, this work had as objective to evaluate the effect of the preliminary stage from the alkaline hydrolyses of the fats in the anaerobic biodegradation of the cheese whey. A complet experimental design, being considered as the independent variables factors as time and the concentration of NaOH indicated the best hydrolyses conditions as 0,1% of NaOH, reaction time at 15h in 35°C and 200 rpm. In the study of the biodegradability of the cheese whey was used as inoculum a sludge colleted in a anaerobic reactor from the effluents treatment of a food industry. The COD removal and the biogas production were monitored by time, in different concentrations of the cheese whey solution in the basal medium. The removal of COD and the biogas production were higher in the experiments with the previously hydrolyzed solutions, especially for larger concentrations of cheese whey. These results shows that the alkaline hydrolyzes may be an alternative in the biological treatment of effluents with high fat concentration. / O soro de queijo representa o mais importante rejeito da indústria de laticínios, devido principalmente ao expressivo volume gerado. O soro é um substrato problemático sob o ponto de vista ambiental, pois apresenta elevados teores de carboidratos, proteínas e gorduras, que lhe conferem uma Demanda Química de Oxigênio cerca de cem vezes maior que a do esgoto doméstico. Uma alternativa de tratamento do mesmo seria a fermentação anaeróbia, através da qual se reduziria seu impacto poluidor, além de possibilitar a recuperação de energia do biogás formado. No entanto, a baixa taxa de biodegradação das gorduras presentes no soro dificulta o tratamento anaeróbio, reduzindo a transferência de massa, levando à perda de biomassa e até o colapso do reator. Neste contexto, o trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar o efeito de uma etapa preliminar de hidrólise alcalina das gorduras sobre a biodegradação anaeróbia do soro. Um planejamento experimental fatorial 32, considerando-se como variáveis independentes os fatores tempo e a concentração de NaOH indicou as melhores condições de hidrólise como sendo 0,1% de NaOH, tempo de reação de 15 h a 35°C e 200 rpm. No estudo da biodegradabilidade do soro foi empregado como inóculo um lodo coletado em um reator anaeróbio de tratamento de efluentes de uma indústria alimentícia. A remoção de DQO e a produção de biogás foram monitoradas ao longo do tempo, mediante diferentes concentrações da solução de soro no meio basal. A remoção de DQO e a produção de biogás foram mais elevadas nos experimentos com a solução previamente hidrolisada, especialmente para maiores teores de solução de soro. Estes resultados mostram que a hidrólise alcalina pode ser uma alternativa no tratamento biológico de efluentes com altos teores de gordura. / Mestre em Engenharia Química

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-17T14:53:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Pedro Augusto Lopes Abreu.pdf: 1389353 bytes, checksum: 81ce9ae4d3b6d093a60100d28069418b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-03-16 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / A system for measuring low rates of gas flow has great importance for some industrial and especially for scientific applications where usually high accuracy and low uncertainty are required. This type of measurement systems have undergone a great development in recent years primarily due to the concern with the release of gases in natural processes occurring in the environment, such as anaerobic biodegradation process which releases methane and the use in the production of biogas. In this work, the development of low-volume gas flow rate measurement system using the method of pressure difference in a container of known volume is presented. A microcontroller is used to control two valves located one gas inlet and the other at the gas outlet of the container. Appropriate analysis of uncertainty propagation is carried out, and components suitable are selected for the development of the meter in order to perform the measurement with low uncertainty. Simulations and experimental tests are presented for validating the proposed system. / Os sistemas de medição de pequenas taxas de fluxo de gás tem grande relevância nos âmbitos industriais e científicos, nos quais suas aplicações exigem geralmente medições com baixa incerteza. Esses sistemas de medição tem tido uma grande evolução ultimamente. Isso se deve, principalmente, à preocupação com a liberação de gases em processos biológicos naturais como, por exemplo, o gás metano liberado no processo de biodegradação anaeróbio, e que também é aproveitado como biogás. Neste trabalho, apresenta-se o desenvolvimento de um medidor para pequenos volumes de gases utilizando o método de diferença de pressão em um recipiente de volume conhecido. Um microcontrolador é utilizado no controle das duas válvulas localizadas na entrada e na saída do recipiente. São realizados estudos apropriados de análise e propagação de incertezas, e são escolhidos componentes adequados para o desenvolvimento e construção do medidor, de modo a realizar a medição com boa exatidão e baixa incerteza. Simulações e testes experimentais são apresentados para validação do sistema proposto.

Les Argiles de Boom ont été identifiées par le SCK-CEN comme un éventuel site de stockage de déchets nucléaires en couche géologique profonde : elles font l’objet d’études dans le laboratoire souterrain de Mol (Belgique). Dans ce contexte, il est important d’évaluer les conséquences du creusement de galeries sur les propriétés de ces Argiles. Ce travail de thèse cible plus particulièrement les effets d’oxydation à l’air et de biodégradation anaérobie sur la MO fossile. Les expériences d’oxydation ont combiné des suivis expérimentaux (série artificielle) et des études sur des échantillons altérés in situ (série naturelle) dans les galeries du laboratoire. Elles ont ciblé le kérogène, la MOE et MOD. La confrontation des données des deux séries révèle que nos simulations expérimentales sont représentatives des processus ayant lieu dans les galeries. Ces travaux démontrent aussi que l’oxydation induit (i) une augmentation importante de la quantité de MOD et (ii) une modification majeure de la chimie de la MOE et de la MOD caractérisée par la formation de molécules oxygénées de faible poids moléculaire. Par ailleurs, l’étude comparative des eaux issues des échantillons altérés avec celles prélevées dans les piézomètres du site démontre que ces dernières ne sont pas affectées par des processus d’oxydation et sont comparables aux eaux issues des échantillons sains. Des expériences de biodégradation menées sur des argiles saines et préalablement oxydées artificiellement n’ont montré aucune évolution significative de la MO fossile (MOE et MOD); la biodégradation anaérobie n’est donc pas un processus dominant dans le contexte des perturbations induites par les excavations / The Boom Clay was focused because it is identified by SCK-CEN as a possible radioactive waste storage in the geological disposal site and in situ experiments are performed in the underground laboratory of Mol (Belgium). In this context, it is important to assess the consequences of galleries excavation on the properties of the Boom Clay. The particular focus of this study is the effects of air oxidation and anaerobic biodegradation on the OM. The experiments dealing with the effects of air oxidation have combined studies of artificial oxidized samples (artificial series) and samples altered in the gallery of the underground laboratory (natural series). These experiments focus on the Kerogen, the EOM and the DOM. The comparison of data from artificial and natural series shows firstly that our experimental simulations are the representative of processes taking place in the galleries. These studies show that air oxidation induced (i) a significant increase in the amount of DOM and (ii) a major change in the chemistry of the EOM and DOM characterized by the formation of low molecular weight oxygenated molecules. Moreover, comparison between water extracted from altered samples and piezometers shows that the water of the site is not affected by oxidation processes. The piezometer water samples are similar to that extracted from non-altered samples. Biodegradation experiments conducted on non altered and artificially oxidized clay did not show significant changes of fossil and dissolved organic matter. It seems that anaerobic biodegradation is not a major process in the context of disturbances induced by the excavation