ESPOCH Congresses: The Ecuadorian Journal of S.T.E.A.M. Volume 1, Issue no. 3, DOI 10.18502/espoch.v1i3.9535 Production and Hosting by Knowledge E Conference Paper Biological Water Treatment Residuals from Plants Quinoa Processors Tratamiento Biológico de Aguas Residuales Provenientes de Plantas Procesadoras de Quinua Livaneza Concepción Bayas, Mabel Mariela Parada, and Hugo Segundo Calderón Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo, Facultad de Ciencias, Carrera de Ingeniería Química, Riobamba, Ecuador Abstract This study aimed to carry out a biological treatment of the wastewater of plants that process quinoa and check whether they complied with the current environmental quality standard for the wastewater discharge since this type of water generates highly polluting effuents. For this, an initial characterization of the discarded water was carried out and the following parameters that are not in line with the current regulations for its discharge were determined: oils and fats (9 mg/L), real color (3520 units of Pt/Co), settable solids (13,500 mg / L), total suspended solids (1195 mg/L), total solids (4644 mg/L), total nitrogen (250 mg/L), COD (5000 mg/L), BOD5 (2990 mg/L), surfactants (17.5 mg/L) and fecal coliforms (240 CFU/100 ml). Next, the biodegradability index was calculated with which the possibility of executing the said treatment to the waste water was corroborated; for this, a primary settler, an aeration tank with diffusers as a biological reactor, at the laboratory level, a secondary settler and fnally an anthracite and sand flter were used. This way, we were able to obtain treated water that complied with the current legislation for the discharge of effuents to a body of fresh water with a pollutant removal percentage of 97%. In this study, we provide guideline for the recirculation of water in a similar manner for other relevant purposes. Keywords: Chemical engineering, Biological treatment, Quinoa washing, Biodegradability index, Contaminating parameters Resumen El presente estudio tuvo como objetivo realizar un tratamiento biológico al agua residual de plantas que procesan quinua y que éstas cumplan con la norma de calidad ambiental vigente para su descarga puesto que este tipo de aguas generan efuentes altamente contaminantes; para ello se ejecutó una caracterización inicial del agua que se desechaba en este tipo de industrias y así se determinó los parámetros que no cumplen con la normativa vigente para su descarga, siendo éstos: aceites y grasas (9 mg/L), color real (3520 Unds de Pt/Co), sólidos sedimentables (13.500 mg/L), sólidos suspendidos totales (1195 mg/L), sólidos totales (4644 mg/L), nitrógeno total (250 mg/L), DQO (5000 mg/L), DBO 5 (2990 mg/L), tensoactivos (17,5 mg/L) y coliformes fecales (240 UFC/100 ml); una vez analizados dichos parámetros se procedió a calcular el índice de biodegradabilidad con el cual se corroboró la posibilidad de ejecutar dicho tratamiento al agua residual, para ello se utilizó a nivel de laboratorio un sedimentador primario, un tanque de aireación con difusores como reactor biológico, un How to cite this article: Bayas LC, Parada MM, Calderón HS (2021). Biological Water Treatment Residuals from Plants Quinoa Processors. ESPOCH Congresses: The Ecuadorian Journal of S.T.E.A.M., 1(3), 1089–1097. DOI 10.18502/espoch.v1i3.9535 I International Congress of Biotechnology, Environment, Chemistry and Food Corresponding Author: Livaneza Concepción Bayas livaneza.bayas@espoch.edu.ec Published: 29 August 2021 Production and Hosting by Knowledge E Livaneza Concepción Bayas et al. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.