Efficiency of a Biofilter Based on Human Hair and Cariniana decandra Sawdust for the Treatment of Laundry Water

Nowadays, water pollution has become a problem that affects a large part of the population and the environment. The exponential increase of the population has generated that the laundry industries have a high demand, generating large amounts of wastewater. Thus, this research evaluated the efficiency of five biofilters composed of different proportions of human hair and Cariniana decandra sawdust in the reduction of physicochemical and microbiological parameters of laundry water. The biofilter components were physicochemically characterized to determine humidity, density, porosity, among others. The results showed that the biofilter composed only of hair at 2 hours of hydraulic retention had a higher treatment efficiency with reduction values of 75% in COD, 77.8% in BOD, 83% in phosphates, 77.3% in total nitrogen, 50% in sulfates, 91.1% in detergents, 68.6% in hardness, 29.4% in turbidity, 71.5% in electrical conductivity, 90% in total coliforms, 95% in thermotolerant coliforms and 91.5% in Escherichia coli. Finally, it is concluded that the Cariniana decandra hair and sawdust biofilters are friendly and efficient systems for treating laundry water.