Tratamento de soro do leite utilizando a simbiose entre microalgas e fungos filamentosos

Abstract

The processing of milk during the production of cheese generates a by-product which is called whey. This effluent has a high organic load and, as a result, there is a need to submit it to an appropriate treatment process so that its disposal does not cause impacts on the environment. In this context, this work sought to evaluate the efficiency of whey treatment using the filamentous fungus of the genus Cunninghamella echinulata, the microalgae of the species Tetradesmus sp. LCE-01 and the symbiotic association between them. The whey was characterized with the contents of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) (about 2036 mg O2 L-1), Total Nitrogen (TN) (about 60.7 mg N L-1) and Total Phosphate (TP) (about 27.05 mg PO4 3-L-1). It was noted a high efficiency in reducing the levels of pollutants through symbiotic interaction, when compared to the values obtained by the use of monosystems (microalga or fungus), thus reaching removal rates of up to 86% for COD, 77% for TN and 96 % for TP. These results allow us to conclude that the symbiotic interaction is the alternative that most stood out against the use of microalgae and fungus separately, for the treatment of whey effluents.