Eliezer Fares Abdala Neto

Microalgae harvesting and cell disruption: a preliminary evaluation of the technology electroflotation by alternating current

Some species of microalgae have high productivity and lipid content, which makes them good candidates for biodiesel production. Biomass separation and cell disruption are important steps in biodiesel production from microalgae. In this work, we explored the fundamentals of electroflotation by alternating current (EFAC) with non-consumable electrodes to simultaneously harvest microalgae and disrupt cells from mixed microalgae obtained from waste stabilization ponds. The harvesting efficiency was evaluated using chlorophyll-a and turbidity, which reached removals of 99% and 95%, respectively, during a batch time of 140 min. Cell disruption was evaluated using lipid extraction, and the best results were achieved with a batch time of 140 min, which resulted in a 14% yield. Therefore, EFAC was shown to be an attractive potential technology for simultaneous microalgal harvesting and cell disruption.

Treatment of Sulfonated Azo Dye Reactive Red 198 by UV/H2O2

UV/H2O2 system was tested on the color removal of sulfonated azo dye Reactive Red 198 (RR), which is widely used in textile process. The effects of hydrogen peroxide concentration, temperature, pH, and the in-line addition of hydrogen peroxide on high color and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removals were investigated. The kinetic of dye decolorization was also determined. The results showed that 2% H2O2 decreased the process efficiency, while 1% H2O2 solution led to a better performance of the system. Despite the fact that the pH increase had small effect on color removal, it affects positively COD removals. The same behavior was found for temperature increase. A high temperature resulted in a slight decrease in color removal and a sharp decrease for COD removal. In addition the H2O2 in-line provided a small improvement in both color and COD removals. UV/1% H2O2 treatment was the most efficient, the good performance was linked to higher amount of hydroxyl radicals formed.

O uso da cavitação hidrodinâmica aplicado ao tratamento de água

The hydrodynamic cavitation is presented as an advanced oxidation process (AOP), allowing to integrate the processes of water treatment for human consumption. This research aimed to investigate the effects of different hydrodynamic cavitation reactors for treating water contaminated with sewage, evaluating the microbiological contamination and physicochemical parameters. Three models were constructed with different rotors reactors (R1, R2 and R3). The results obtained in the reactors R1, R2 and R3 have shown a reduction in the concentrations of chemical parameters in all samples, particularly nitrites, nitrates, bicarbonates, and total hardness, while the microbiological contamination was completely inactivation (total coliforms and Escherichia coli).