Performance of anaerobic filters using polyurethane foam as support Material in the swine wastewater treatment

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of anaerobic filters containing
polyurethane foam as a support material, in comparison with anaerobic filters containing gravel,
in the treatment of swine wastewater. The experiment was carried out in a randomized
completely design, with 2 treatments (gravel and foamed), 3 replicates , in split plot.), The filters
were operated with upflow, with a capacity of 5.1 L each and a hydraulic holding time of 12 hours.
In order to evaluate the efficiency of the filters, turbidity, total solid, suspended solids, total
nitrogen and Biochemical Oxygen Demand analyzes were performed in the effluent and filter
effluent, every 7 days. The anaerobic filters containing polyurethane foam cubes presented
similar efficiencies to the filters containing gravel in the ST and SS removal, and superior in the
removal of BOD and N-total, and could be an alternative for the treatment of swine wastewater.