Author(s)

R Rodríguez Cano, M Pérez García, L I Romero García & D Sales Márquez

Abstract

The wastes with a high content of fatty and oily matter, derived from industrial process, have a high level of heavy metal, microorganisms, decomposition products, etc. So, they are considered like danger wastes by the legislation in force (Law 10/1998, of 21 of April) [l] and must be treated properly to eliminate determine components before their thrown to urban collectors or any other final channels. The objective of this work has been to study the influence of inouculum percentage in thermophilic anaerobic biodegradation assays of the wastes generated from a high installation dedicates to the mechanising of metallic pieces for the automotive sector; thus, to select suitable analytical and operative methodology to the following and control of the degradation process values. The experimental results obtained show that the composition of inouculum medium has a real effect on the behaviour of the system. So, it is noticeable that there is a direct proportion between the evolution of analysed parameters and the inouculum amount added to the assay medium. All of these factors advise about the modification of the inouculum process, and it is proposed the inouculum centrifugation to separate solid fraction and resuspend it in an equivalent amount of waste before its addition to the assay; in this way, the biodegradability matter goes with the inouculum is almost deleted. On the other hand, the values of output coefficient of methane show how the elimination of organic matter and its transformation in methane has a higher correlation with the TOC and DVS than the COD, due to the nature of the waste used.

Keywords