Treatment of an Effluent with Furfural by Native Bacteria, in a Fluidized Bed Anaerobic Reactor

Abstract

The aim of this study was to propose an alternative treatment for an effluent from a tannin’s industry which contains up to 3000 mg/L of furfural. To achieve this, we designed and constructed an anaerobic fluidized-bed reactor at pilot scale; we made the adaptation of native bacteria to different concentrations of the effluent and evaluated the efficiency of the reactor by treating a synthetic effluent with similar characteristics. Laboratory scale results showed that it is possible to adapt bacteria at concentrations up to 600 mg/L of effluent. The designed reactor was efficient and could be used to assess degradation of furfural, obtaining 99,92% of removal after 20 hours of operation.