PERSPECTIVAS DEL TRATAMIENTO ANAEROBIO DE AGUAS RESIDUALES DOMÉSTICAS EN PAÍSES EN DESARROLLO (PERSPECTIVES OF ANAEROBIC TREATMENT OF DOMESTIC WASTEWATER IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES)
PERSPECTIVAS DEL TRATAMIENTO ANAEROBIO DE AGUAS RESIDUALES DOMÉSTICAS EN PAÍSES EN DESARROLLO (PERSPECTIVES OF ANAEROBIC TREATMENT OF DOMESTIC WASTEWATER IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES)


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En países con grandes problemas de saneamiento y pocos recursos, como los que están en vías de desarrollo, se requieren plantas de tratamiento de aguas residuales domésticas –PTARD– apropiadas y sostenibles; dado que estos países se localizan en general en regiones de clima tropical y subtropical (temperaturas superiores a 20 ºC), la digestión anaerobia es una tecnología clave que genera subproductos con valor agregado (bioenergía, nutrientes y agua para reúso). América Latina es la región con mayor número de PTARD anaerobias, siendo el reactor UASB el de mayor aplicación para el tratamiento del ARD; su implementación a escala tan grande como la de la PTARD Onça (Belo Horizonte, Brasil) demuestra que es una tecnología consolidada, con eficiencias de reducción entre 65 % y 80 % de DQO y TRH entre 6 y 10 horas. Sin embargo, es necesario continuar avanzando en el mejoramiento y perfeccionamiento de los actuales métodos de tratamiento que permitan soluciones tecnológicas respetuosas con el ambiente y adecuadas a las condiciones socioeconómicas y culturales propias de cada región. Este documento plantea un análisis y reflexión sobre el tratamiento anaerobio de ARD en países en desarrollo y sobre las perspectivas de aplicación en pequeña y gran escala.
Keywords: Appropriate and sustainable municipal wastewater treatments plants –WWTP– are strongly required in developing countries which face both sanitation problems and poverty. Anaerobic digestion, as a leading technology that generates value added products (i.e. bio-energy, nutrients and water for reuse) has proved to be suitable in those countries, which are mostly placed in tropical and subtropical regions with temperatures higher than 20 oC. Latin America is the region with the highest number of anaerobic WWTP, being the UASB reactor the most common technology for municipal wastewater treatment. Onça WWTP (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) is an example of a large scale implementation, showing that UASB is a stabilized technology with COD removal efficiencies ranging from 65 % to 80 % and HRT between 6-10 hours. However, further research is highly needed in order to improve and upgrade the existing treatment methods; so as to achieve technological solutions that prove to be environmentally harmless and suitable to each particular socio-economic and cultural condition. This work is aimed at analyzing and discussing the anaerobic treatment of domestic wastewater issues and its application perspectives at both small and large scale in developing countries.Article visits 689 | PDF visits 547