AVALIAÇÃO DA INFLUÊNCIA DE POLÍMEROS HIDROABSORVENTES NA DEGRADAÇÃO BIOLÓGICA DO GLIFOSATO POR MEIO DO PROCESSO DE LODOS ATIVADOS

Abstract

The Agriculture in the Pontal do Paranapanema region is a major source of employment and income, with the highlight the cultivation of sugar cane. Along with the expansion of the cultivated area has been a substantial increase in the use of herbicides. Among the various existing herbicides in the domestic market, glyphosate, Roundup®, appears with great relevance in the agricultural scenario, because in addition to efficient has a broad spectrum of action. Moreover, their use also generates unwanted environmental impacts, such as changes in soil microbes and the generation of a taproot. Additionally, by leaching a part of glyphosate applied to crops can reach surface water, such as rivers. In the face of this problem, this study followed the process of degradation of glyphosate in a biological reactor, through the activated sludge process. Two studies, the first of which used a synthetic wastewater containing glyphosate as a source of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus and sewage sludge. The second treatment was done under the same conditions first by adding a hydrogel polymer. These polymers are employed in the sugarcane plantations for water retention and can reach surface waters through leaching. The monitoring system was conducted through analysis of chemical oxygen demand (COD), amount of phosphorus, nitrogen, glyphosate, nitrite and nitrate, reaction temperature, pH and Dissolved Oxygen. The results demonstrate that the treatment of the effluent containing only glyphosate is more efficient than treatment containing glyphosate and the hydrogel polymer.