Estudo do potencial de reúso de águas residuárias de laboratórios de análises químicas em Instituições de Ensino Superior.

Abstract

The increasing demand for water, which is an essential good for life and economic activities, and its own scarcity has been demanding the search for new sources of water. In this way, the terms re-use and reuse are increasingly being used as an attempt to fill the gap for such an important asset. For this research, among the laboratories of universities, chemical analysis laboratories are used, as they use a large amount of water for their internal processes, such as distillation of water and washing of glassworks. In this context, the present work had the objective of studying the potential of wastewater reuse of chemical analysis laboratories, for non potable purposes, at the Santa Mônica campus of the Federal University of Uberlândia. As specific objectives were identified the largest laboratories consuming water, estimating the volume of water spent in the processes of distillation of water and glasswashing and pointed out the quality of the wastewater of these laboratories through the commonly used chemicals, identified in the questionnaire applied. In this way, it was possible to analyze the feasibility of these effluents for reuse, aiming at the non-potable irrigation purposes of lawns, floor washes and sanitary discharges. As methodology was carried out a field research, application of questionnaires and in situ survey of the volume of water used in glasswashing of potential laboratories. At the end, the results showed that, from a quantitative point of view, the laboratories studied have potential for reuse, presenting a monthly water expenditure around 7% of the total water consumed on the whole campus. Under the qualitative aspect, substances potentially dangerous to intended uses have been identified in some laboratories. In addition, with the study it was also possible to raise important information to the campus that until then were unknown.