Hydrolytic enzymes as coadjuvants in the anaerobic treatment of dairy wastewaters

An enzymatic extract produced by Penicillium restrictum having a high level of lipase activity (17.2 U.g-1) was obtained by solid-state fermentation using babassu cake as substrate. The enzymatic extract was used in the hydrolysis of a dairy wastewater with high fat contents (180, 450, 900 and 1,200 mg.L-1). Different hydrolysis conditions were tested, and it was determined that it should be carried out at a temperature of 35ºC, without agitation, with 10% v/v enzymatic extract and a hydrolysis time of 12 hours. Both crude and hydrolysed effluents were then submitted to an anaerobic biological treatment. It was observed that for the enzymatically pretreated effluent there was a significant improvement in the efficiency of the anaerobic treatment. For the highest fat content tested (1,200 mg.L-1), removal efficiencies of 19 and 80% were attained for crude and hydrolysed effluents, respectively. In addition, a tenfold increase in the removal rate of COD from the hydrolysed effluent (1.87 kg COD.m-3.d-1) was observed in relation to the crude effluent (0.18 kg COD.m-3.d-1). The results obtained in this study illustrate the viability of using a hybrid treatment (enzymatic-biological) for wastewaters having high fat contents