Revista Ambiente & Água - An Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Science

694-707

Authors: Bárbara de A. S. de Andrade; Paulo S. B. de Lacerda; Jaime L. M. Oliveira

Reuse reduces the consumption of freshwater supplies and the negative environmental impact caused by the discharge of industrial effluents. Some industries have already adopted this practice; however, no studies were found in the literature regarding this subject in the pharmaceutical industry. This work investigated the potential reuse of effluent (concentrate) generated from the Reverse Osmosis/Electro-deionization System (RO/EDI) that is used for the production of purified water in a Brazilian pharmaceutical plant. This industrial complex consumed about 200,000 m3 of water per year between 2012 and 2013 to produce one million of doses of vaccines, i.e., 2 L of water per dose of vaccine produced. During this period, the RO/EDI produced 27,000 m3 of purified water annually and generated 24,000 m3 of effluent (concentrate). This amount of effluent could be used to supply the production of industry steam (boilers) and/or cold water (cooling towers) that annually consumed an average of 12,000 m3 and 40,000 m3, respectively. The reuse of this effluent would result in a gross financial savings of 96,000 USD per year, excluding the costs of installation and control. From what has been researched in the literature, this work showed for the first time the possibility of reuse of effluent from RO/EDI System in the pharmaceutical industry.

718-729

Authors: Daniele Vital Vich*; Hitomi Pires Miyamoto; Luciano Matos Queiroz; Viviana Maria Zanta

Household food-waste composting is an attractive alternative for Brazilian waste management; however, there are few programs or studies regarding the implementation or management of this small-scale process. This study investigates the performance of food waste composting using a simple and small-scale domestic composter. Three composting trials were conducted using food waste and wood chips in 10 L plastic bins using different filling schemes. In the first trial, the composter was filled weekly over two months. In the second, the composter was filled once with a mixture of food waste and 100% of the used wood chips from the previous trial. In the last third trial, the composter was filled with food waste and wood chips (50% of wood chips used in the second trial and 50% of untreated wood chips). The physical chemical parameters of the compost were monitored and the total coliforms and E. coli were measured. In all trials, the temperature varied between 26.7°C and 46.2°C throughout the process. The reduction in wet mass was 58-69%, while the reduction in dry mass was 37-61%. The pH value, the contents of carbon and nitrogen and the C/N ratio were in accordance with the values recommended in norm 25 (July, 2009) adopted by Brazil's Agriculture Ministry. Only the compost from Trial 2, which had 1900 MPN g-1total solids, did not meet the E. coli standards; this was likely due to the fact that when the temperatures did not reach the thermophilic phase, the relatively long time the waste remains in the composter allows these pathogenic microorganisms to decay naturally.

743-759

Authors: Lucas da Costa Santos*; Jefferson Vieira José; Daniel Soares Alves; Pablo Ricardo Nitsche; Elton Fialho dos Reis; Fabiani Denise Bender

Long-term changes in important weather variables such as evapotranspiration (ET) and precipitation are expected as a response to climate change. These changes may require adjustments to current strategies of planning and management of water resources. The objective of this work was to conduct a spatiotemporal characterization of evapotranspiration in the State of Paraná, Brazil, including in this approach a temporal trend analysis. A similar analysis was also conducted for precipitation. Thus, the historical data (1980-2010) from 33 weather stations were analyzed. The spatial distribution of the data was carried out by geostatistical techniques (ordinary kriging) and the trend analysis by the tests Mann-Kendall and Sen. According to the results, evapotranspiration increases from the coast to the interior of the state, with the highest values in the northeast and northwest regions, reaching levels of about 1200 mm yr-1. The temporal variability of the ET presented a significant upward trend in 12% of the locations, with increases from 2.5 to 7.0 mm yr-1. Precipitation was higher in the coastal and south-central regions and the lowest amounts were identified in the northeast and northwest regions. The precipitation trend analysis indicated a significant downward trend in precipitation volume of five locations. The evapotranspiration and precipitation showed, in general, no statistically significant trends in most of the stations analyzed; however, the upward trends for ET and downward trends for precipitation indicate local changes in the State of Paraná.

774-785

Authors: Eliane Sloboda Rigobello*; Sandro Xavier Campos; Eduardo Ribeiro de Azevedo; Angela Di Bernardo Dantas; Eny Maria Vieira

This paper compares the structural characteristics of aquatic humic substances (AHS) with humic substances from peat (HSP) through different analytical techniques, including elemental analysis, solid state 13C cross polarization/magic-angle-spinning nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (13C CP-MAS NMR), ultraviolet/visible (UV/Vis) spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and total organic carbon (TOC). The AHS were extracted from water collected in a tributary of the Itapanhaú River (Bertioga/SP) using XAD 8 resin, and the HSP were extracted from peat collected in the Mogi Guaçu River bank (Luis Antonio/SP) with a KOH solution. After dialysis, both AHS and HSP extracts were filtered in membrane of 0.45 µm pore size (Fraction F1: < 0.45 µm) and fractioned by ultrafiltration in different apparent molecular sizes (AMS) (F2: 100 kDa-0.45 μm; F3: 30 kDa-100 kDa and F4: < 30 kDa). The extracts with the lowest AMS (F3 and F4) showed a higher number of aliphatic carbons than aromatic carbons, a higher concentration of groups containing oxygen and a higher percentage of fulvic acids (FA) than humic acids (HA) for both AHS and HSP. However, the AHS presented higher FA than HA content in relation to the HSP and distinct structural properties.

801-813

Authors: Ariane Guimarães; Aline Sueli de Lima Rodrigues; Guilherme Malafaia*

The aim of the present study is to assess the use of rapid assessment protocols (RAPs) of rivers as environmental education (EE) instruments in elementary schools. Therefore, EE activities were proposed to students from a Brazilian public elementary school. The activities included ranged from environmental-monitoring workshops to RAPs adapted to the level of schooling of the students. The students completed questionnaires before and after the activities in order to check their degree of knowledge prior to the activities and to assess the information acquired after participation in the activities. The results established that the RAP provided and/or helped to instill social values, knowledge, skills, actions, and competences linked to the environmental conservation of local rivers. The study therefore proves that the use of the RAP would be a valuable addition to EE projects and programs in elementary schools.

829-841

Authors: Cecília Maria de Paula; Adriane Almeida Vaz; Ariane Almeida Vaz; Gisele Pires Pelizari; Heidi Marcela Suarez Robayo; Thaís Deluno Garcia; Daniely Avelino; Giuliano Grici Zacarin; Welber Senteio Smith*

No Brasil e no estado de São Paulo existem poucos levantamentos sobre a presença do gastrópode Melanoides tuberculata (Müller, 1774). Os moluscos invasores representam uma importante ameaça às espécies nativas, em consequência da sua agressividade na competição pelo uso dos habitats e dos diferentes recursos. Melanoides tuberculata é originário da Ásia e África e a sua introdução no Brasil data da década de 60. Estudos recentes ressaltam a importância de realizar novas pesquisas sobre a distribuição espacial desta espécie e seu possível impacto à biodiversidade. O presente estudo documenta a ocorrência da espécie Melanoides tuberculata na bacia hidrográfica do rio Sorocaba, sua abundância e distribuição espacial em 5 sistemas aquáticos em diferentes estágios de conservação. As amostragens foram realizadas nos meses de junho de 2013 até agosto de 2014, onde foram registrados 522 indivíduos, dos quais 67% foram encontrados no Rio Verde, localizado na zona de amortecimento da Floresta Nacional de Ipanema. Os resultados mostraram que esta espécie pode estar amplamente distribuída na bacia principalmente em locais com substrato arenoso, mata ripária degradada e sujeito a lançamento de esgoto. Deve ser ressaltada ainda a correlação com valores de temperatura da água mais altos, o que pode estar ligado à ausência de sombreamento propiciado pela mata ripária. O controle na proliferação desta espécie, deve ser realizado pela melhoria da qualidade ambiental do ambiente aquáticos uma vez que a erradicação se torna inviável por remoção física.

855-870

Authors: Kássia Regina Bazzo*; Hugo Alexandre Soares Guedes; Andréa Souza Castro; Tirzah Moreira Siqueira; Claudia Fernanda Almeida Teixeira-Gandra

A baixa densidade espacial da rede hidrométrica nacional tem resultado em grandes limitações para a representação do comportamento dos recursos hídricos. Dessa forma, a regionalização de vazões é uma alternativa para melhor explorar os dados já existentes, transferindo informações de um local para outro dentro de uma área com comportamento hidrológico semelhante. Nesse sentido, o objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar as estimativas da vazão mínima de permanência Q95 obtidas através dos métodos Tradicional e Conservação de Massas na bacia do Rio Taquari-Antas, pertencente ao Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, visando auxiliar o planejamento dos recursos hídricos, além de facilitar as tomadas de decisão em relação aos processos de outorga do direito de uso das águas. Como variável explicativa para a regressão matemática foi utilizada a área de drenagem proveniente do Modelo Digital de Elevação Hidrograficamente Condicionado (MDEHC). Foram obtidas as equações de regionalização da vazão de referência Q95 e as respectivas regiões hidrologicamente homogêneas para os dois métodos testados, sendo a magnitude dos erros relativos inerente às metodologias empregadas. Consideradas as particularidades deste trabalho, ambos os métodos avaliados apresentaram resultados satisfatórios na obtenção de modelos para estimativa da vazão Q95, entretanto destaca-se que as técnicas aplicadas não substituem as informações hidrológicas obtidas com uma rede hidrométrica suficientemente densa.