Abstract
The sweet whey resulting from cheese production is the most polluting among all types of dairy waste waters given that it contains a huge quantity of organic biodegradable matters. In this study, we realize a physicochemical treatment of sweet whey, by coagulation-flocculation using aluminum sulphate as a coagulant and sodium alginate as flocculent and a biological treatment in suspension, using Pseudomonas fluorescens and Bacillus spp.
The physicochemical treatment by coagulation-flocculation has reduced 33% of the chemical oxygen demand, 45% of the turbidity, 72% of suspended matter and 20% of total phosphorus. The biological treatment has reduced considerably all the studied parameters; the organic charge determined by the chemical oxygen demand (COD) has received a very significant reduction upto 90% using Pseudomonas fluorescens during 20 days. On the other side, the biological treatment realized with Bacillus spp. was less effective, reduced the COD with 54% under the same conditions of the treatment by Pseudomonas fluorescens and for the same period. But these two bacteria are equally effective in reducing the total nitrogen TN (92% reduction/20 days).
This work presents a biotechnology for the treatment of sweet whey. It's an economic method, simple and environment friendly.
Keywords
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.