Benefits of biological additive inoculation in the treatment of effluent from the paper recycling industry

Effluents from the paper recycling industry can be complex for biological treatment due to the hydrolysis step of lignocellulolytic materials. The use of biological additives can benefit the treatment of this type of effluent. This study evaluated the inoculation of a biological additive called Component E (CE) in the wastewater treatment of the paper recycling industry. The results showed higher COD removal efficiency in the treatments with the inoculation of the biological additive for both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Microbial groups related to the degradation of cellulose or lignocellulose and taxa capable of degrading chlorinated components were observed, which was related to the reduction of conductivity and dissolved solids in the reactors with the biological ad-ditive. Therefore, the use of Component E (CE) as a biological additive proved to be an alternative capable of increasing the efficiency of organic load removal in the treatment of wastewater from the paper recycling industry.