In this work, the biosorption of Cr3+ and Ni2+ by Sargassum filipendula pre-treated with CaCl2 was studied. Kinetic and equilibrium experiments were carried out for mono- and multi-component solutions in a batch reactor at pH 3.0 and 30 ºC. The results from the kinetic experiments showed that Cr3+ adsorbs slower than Ni2+. This behavior was explained by means of a mechanistic analysis, which showed that Cr3+ uptake presented three adsorption stages, whereas Ni2+ adsorption presents only two. The mono-component equilibrium data, along with binary kinetic data obtained from mono-component experiments, showed that, although the kinetics for Cr3+ removal are slower, the biomass had a stronger affinity for this ion. Almost all Ni2+ is desorbed from the biomass as Cr3+ adsorbs. The binary equilibrium data also presented this behavior. The binary data was also modeled by using modified forms of the Langmuir, Jain and Snoeyink, and Langmuir-Freundlich isotherms. However, the prediction obtained presented low accuracy. An alternative modeling with artificial neural networks was presented and the results showed that this technique could be a promising tool to represent binary equilibrium data. The main contribution of this work was to obtain experimental data for Cr3+/Ni2+ adsorption, which is a system rarely found in the literature and that provides information that could be used in process modeling and simulation.

O resíduo sólido (lodo) gerado durante o tratamento de efluentes de lavanderias industriais foi utilizado na fabricação de blocos cerâmicos de vedação em escala real, nas proporções de 0 (referência) e 20% de lodo em relação à massa cerâmica. Após a queima, em escala industrial, estes blocos cerâmicos foram avaliados com relação aos ensaios de resistência mecânica e absorção de água. Os blocos cerâmicos de vedação fabricados com lodo de lavanderia apresentaram uma diminuição na resistência mecânica com relação aos blocos de referência. Já o teor de absorção de água aumentou ao se adicionar lodo de lavanderia na fabricação destes blocos. No entanto, os resultados mostraram que o lodo de lavanderia pode ser aproveitado para incorporação em massa cerâmica na fabricação de blocos cerâmicos de vedação até 20%.

The solid residue (sludge) generated in the treatment of effluents from industrial laundries was used for the full-scale production of ceramic sealing blocks, in the proportions of 0% (reference) and 20% with respect to the ceramic body. After firing in industrial scale, the mechanical strength and water absorption properties of the ceramic blocks were determined. The ceramic blocks produced with laundry sludge showed lower mechanical strength than the reference blocks. On the other hand, the amount of absorbed water increased when the sludge was added to the blocks. The results showed that the sludge from industrial laundries may be incorporated in the ceramic body, up to 20%, for the production of ceramic sealing blocks.

O lodo gerado em ETEs de lavanderias industriais é um material não inerte de Classe IIA, devido à sua solubilidade em água. Este resíduo tem recebido atenção especial devido à grande quantidade produzida e, consequentemente, ao custo demandado para destino em aterros industriais. O objetivo deste trabalho é avaliar a qualidade dos tijolos cerâmicos de vedação, fabricados com lodo de lavanderia industrial incorporado em massa cerâmica vermelha, pelo processo de extrusão, em escala de laboratório (73 x 35 x 55 mm), com os seguintes percentuais de lodo de lavanderia: 0 (modelo), 5, 10, 15 e 20% em peso. Após a queima, em indústria cerâmica, a qualidade dos tijolos foi analisada por meio de ensaios de resistência à compressão, absorção de água, lixiviação e solubilização. Nos resultados obtidos observou-se que a resistência à compressão é inversamente proporcional à quantidade de lodo adicionada, enquanto a absorção de água é diretamente proporcional à mesma quantidade de lodo adicionada na fabricação dos tijolos. No ensaio de lixiviação nenhum dos metais pesados analisados foi lixiviado; para o ensaio de solubilização nenhum dos metais analisados foi detectado, comprovando que o produto é inerte. De acordo com os resultados obtidos, é possível a fabricação de tijolos de vedação com até 20% de resíduo de lavanderias industriais incorporados em argila.

The sludge from wastewater treatment in industrial laundries is a II-A class non-inert material, due to its solubility in water. This waste has been paid special attention, due to the large quantities that are produced and therefore the high cost of the final destination in landfills. This way, the objective of this work was to evaluate the quality of sealing ceramic bricks manufactured with sludge from industrial laundry incorporated in red ceramic mass, by the extrusion process, in laboratory scale (73 x 35 x 55 mm), with the following weight percentages of sludge: 0 (model), 5, 10, 15, and 20%. After the burning in a ceramic industry, the quality of the bricks was evaluated by tests of compression resistance, water absorption, leaching and solubilization. The obtained results showed that the compression resistance was inversely proportional to the quantity of sludge that was added during the manufacturing of the bricks, while water absorption was directly proportional to that quantity. None of the analyzed heavy metals was leached in the leaching test or detected in the solubilization test, proving that the product is inert. According to the results it is possible to produce sealing bricks with up to 20% of industrial laundries sludge incorporated in clay.

The thermal stability and the energy of deactivation of free invertase and the immobilized enzyme (IE) was measured at temperatures in the range of 35 to 65°C for the hydrolysis of a 5% w/v sucrose solution. The free enzyme at pH 5.0 is stable up to 50°C for a period of 4 h. Invertase immobilized in controlled pore silica by the silane-glutaraldehyde covalent method is stable up to 55ºC, in pH 4.5 for the same period. For higher temperatures the enzyme deactivation follows the exponential decay model and half-lives are 0.53, 1.80, and 13.9 h for free invertase, at 65, 60, and 55ºC, respectively. For the IE half-lives are 0.48, 1.83, and 20.9 h, at 65, 60, and 55ºC, respectively. The IE is more stable than the free invertase; the energy of deactivation being 83.1 kcal/mol for the IE and 72.0 kcal/mol for the free enzyme.

Invertase from NOVO Nordisk has been immobilized in controlled pore silica particles (diameter: 0.351 mm and mean pore size: 37.5 nm) by covalent binding with the silane-glutaraldehyde method. The activity of the free and immobilized enzyme (IE) was determined with 5% (w/v) sucrose, at 35 to 65ºC and pH from 3 to 7. Maximum activities were found in the pH range from 5 to 6 for free invertase, and pH 4.5 for the IE. Activity yield for the IE was 24%. The Energy of Activation (Ea) was found to be a function of pH, giving for free invertase, Ea = 7.0 and 6.86 kcal/mol at pH 5.0 and 5.5, respectively, whereas for the immobilized enzyme, Ea = 6.55 and 5.93 kcal/mol at pH 4.5 and 5.0, respectively.

The objectives of this paper are to verify the viability of operating a bioreactor coupled with a membrane, and to analyze the global mechanisms witch need to be considered in the bioreactional concept in the separation by membrane. In order to meet the proposed objectives, a culture with a synthetic substratum (ethanol) was utilized. A mineral membrane with the following characteristics was used: a pore diameter of 0.2 m m, 19 channels of a 4 mm diameter, a width of 0.85 m, a filtering surface area of 0.2 m², a pressure of 2 bar and a tangential velocity of 2 m/s. The experiments consisted of modifying the residence time of the substratum within the reactor. The following measurements were taken: chemical oxygen demand (COD), concentration of biomass and filtered flow. The results show a treated effluent of good quality, indicating that the time of hydraulic residence time influences the efficiency of the system and is influenced by the restriction of the filtered flow by a fast fouling of the membrane