<i>Bacillus subtilis</i> and <i>Pseudomona putida</i> in the removal of organic contaminants in wastewater from food industries

The purpose of the research was to evaluate the removal of organic contaminants in industrial wastewater from shrimp packing plants by means of a microbial consortium of Pseudomonas putida and Bacillus subtilis, the study was experimental, with three factors under investigation: application dose, application frequency, and contact time, the initial characterization of the wastewater was carried out according to the Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, the physicochemical parameters showed high concentrations (571 Pt-Co; 51 NTU; 653 mg/L BOD; 1305 mg/L COD; 12.5 mg/L PO; and 0.481 mg/L NO).The application dose was established based on flow and volume criteria.Bioaugmentation was carried out at three time intervals (24, 48, and 72 hours), with a total duration of 15 days, during which the indicators were monitored every five days.Additionally, the toxicity of the treated water was evaluated through the germination of Lactuca sativa seeds.A reduction in turbidity was observed, reaching 89.2% in T27, as well as in BOD (87%) and COD (85.2%).In terms of nutrients, phosphate removal reached 39.5% and nitrites 28.3%.The analysis of variance confirmed that T27 showed a significant difference among the manipulated factors.The toxicity test revealed that after 15 days, germination levels ranged between 36% and 45%.