Treatment of synthetic dairy wastewater in batch reactors inoculated with Aspergillus niger AN400

Dairy industries contain high concentration of organic matter that may cause pollution. This study proposed to study the removal of organic matter and nutrients from a synthetic dairy effluent, arranged in repeated batch reactors inoculated with Aspergillus niger AN400. The system was composed of reactors with different configurations and, for each type of assembly, the support material was varied. The study was conducted in four cycles of five days, with daily withdrawals of portions. The results showed efficiency of removal of chemical oxygen demand with peaks of up to 71.7%. One might conclude that the technology was feasible in the removal of organic matter. For nutrients, the system could successfully remove nitrate; however, for removal of ammonia, it was not promising.