Estudo dos componentes tóxicos em um biorreator de resíduos sólidos urbanos da cidade de Campina Grande-PB.

Abstract

Urban solid waste (USW) has caused many problems to the environment and to humans. In developing countries, landfills and open area deposits are usually used for USW disposal. The presence of toxic components in these deposits affects the degradation level of the waste, since this fact can inhibit microbial growth. This issue demands that waste dumping observance occurs, were the primary system function would be the efficiency and containment of contaminants. Experimental cells (lysimeters) can be used for parameters as well as to understand the behavior of USW landfills through its monitoring. This study aimed to verify the contamination of toxic agents in a lysimeter as a condition to evaluate the progress of biodegradation of waste in the city of Campina Grande-PB, checking the progress of biodegradation of the waste. The monitoring involved lysimeter measurements and periodic collection of solid samples for laboratory testing of variables, such as gravimetric composition, apparent density, temperature, moisture content, pH, total alkalinity, chlorides, content of organic matter and carbon, macronutrients (N, P, K, Ca and Mg), micronutrients (Cu, Zn, Mn and Fe), heavy metals (Cd, Cr, and Pb) phytotoxicity tests, and statistics studies to check similar behavior to the analyzed parameters. Given the heterogeneity of waste and samples, most of the results showed variations in their values. The physicalchemical parameters analyzed showed similar values to those found by several authors in search of USW landfills or experimental cells. The phytotoxicity tests showed values that confirm levels of toxicity still present in the mass of waste in the lysimeter. In a general matter, it was concluded with the phytotoxicity tests, that the levels of NKT, manganese, magnesium, and heavy metals such as cadmium and chromium are the main components in the mass of toxic waste from the lysimeter.