Producción de microalgas a partir de dióxido de carbono y aguas residuales obtenidos de la industria

Abstract

At present, most industries release pollutants into the environment, generating a worldwide environmental and economic problem. To avoid further contamination, companies should investigate and apply different types of methods to treat the gaseous emissions and liquid effluents released. Therefore, and as a starting point in this work, different methodologies in use were investigated in order to select the most appropriate for the treatment of gases produced by combustion and industrial effluents from the juice company Jugos S.A. Given the profitability and diversity of products that can be obtained, it was decided to treat effluents using microalgal biomass cultivation in photobioreactors. In addition, it was necessary to determine which type of microalgae would be best adapted to the climatic conditions of the place, taking into account that the company is located in the Alto Valle de Río Negro, specifically in the city of Villa Regina. Jugos S.A. currently has a liquid effluent treatment plant under operation; however, the gaseous emissions generated by the combustion of the boilers are not treated because of their parameters are in permitted levels. For this reason, the goal of this project is to produce a microalgae that use as a substrate the greenhouse gases generated by the humotubular boilers required in the company’s processes, together with their wastewater, in order to avoid the use of mains water. Likewise, and in relation to the economic evaluation, it is foreseen the possibility of avoiding future monetary fines derived from the emission of these pollutants, therefore, the relevance of this project lies in generating a pollution-free environment, seeking in turn to improve the quality of life of the people who live in this region and also allowing the company to continue developing in an economically beneficial way. The plant proposed to carry out this idea has mainly a screw compressor for the conduction of gases, a tubular photobioreactor of 315 m3, in addition to pumps and a downstream processing system for the separation of microalgae from the culture medium. From the processed data, it was obtained as a result that the optimal microorganism taking into account the climatic conditions of the site will be Chlorella Pyrenoidosa. In addition, through the R.Studio software, it was estimated that, from an inoculum of 10 mg/m3, 1711.66 kg of microalgae will be produced on a wet basis, taking approximately 14 days to grow. The economic analysis carried out in this work is based on the bulk sale of the cultivated microalgae for a period of 10 years. Based on the same and taking into account the Net Present Value, it is concluded that the company would obtain profits from the invested capital, being this a positive value of $ 4,424,095,833. It is expected that different companies in the country seek to reduce the carbon footprint produced by their processes, and this work is an example of what could be done to that purpose.