Resumen
In this work, the effect of vinasse pre-treatment and anatase content in the photocatalytic degradation of sugarcane vinasse was evaluated. The in nature vinasse was pretreated by coagulation/flocculation using vegetal tannin as coagulant and diluted 1: 2 with deionized water. The photocatalytic tests with in nature, pretreated and diluted vinasse were performed for 48 hours under UV radiation using 1 g of catalyst: TiO2 Kronos calcined at 300oC (100% anatase) and 1000oC (34% anatase) and TiO2 P25 (87% anatase). The process of coagulation/flocculation removed about 50, 85 and 97% of COD, color and turbidity of in nature vinasse, respectively. The results showed that despite the slight COD decrease of in nature vinasse, its toxicity was significantly reduced after photocatalytic treatment, especially when TiO2-34 and TiO2-87 were used. This behavior shows that the mixture of anatase and rutile phases showed a positive synergistic effect. Regarding pre-treatment of vinasse, the coagulation/flocculation process was more efficient, promoting the greatest reductions of COD (67%) and toxicity (up to 10 times).