The status of radiation process to treat industrial effluents in Brazil

The use of ionising radiation has great ecological and technological advantages, especially when compared to physiochemical and biological methods. It has great efficiency to destroy microorganism and it breaks down organic compounds, generating substances that are easily biodegraded and it is not necessary to add chemical compounds. The Radiation Technology Centre - CTR at the Institute for Energetic and Nuclear Research (IPEN) started in 1992 marked the development of an alternative technology for wastewater and industrial effluent treatment, mainly for the degradation of pollutants using the radiation from a high-energy electron beam. This technology has been extensively studied by many research centres. The objective of this programme in Brazil is to use the existing gamma and electron beam to study the removal and degradation efficiency of toxic and refractory pollutants (organic compounds mainly from industrial origins) and the disinfecting of pathogenic micro-organisms in wastewater, industrial effluents and sludge. This programme also embraces the design and construction of a wastewater treatment pilot plant in the IPEN electron beam facility. Its function is to develop and test water irradiation devices, to test in continuous run the degradation of pollutants and inactivation of microorganism and to perform economical feasibility study to scale up for a movable demonstration plant to operate on a commercial basis. (author)