TREATED WASTEWATER FROM BIODIESEL GENERATION AND ITS TOXICITY EVALUATION BY RAPHIDOCELIS SUBCAPITATA
Biodiesel was created to the solve vast economic and environmental problems related to oil. However, for the production of biofuel, large quantities of water are necessary for the purification step, generating a high volume of effluent waste containing residual biodiesel molecules considered toxic to man and the environment. To minimize the environmental impact of this liquid effluent from biodiesel washing-stage production, some treatments were performed by the techniques of coagulation/flocculation (CF) and by electrochemical advanced oxidation process (EAOPs). Therefore, it is extremely important to evaluate the ecotoxicity of the treatment of this wastewater, and this work aimed in evaluating the toxicity with Raphidocelis subcapitata. The raw untreated effluent samples had higher chronic toxicity (LC5072h) when compared to treated samples. It indicates that the proposed combination of procedures was effective to reduce the organic loading while minimize R. subcapitata toxicity and the environmental impact of the discharge of these effluents into water bodies.