Evaluation of toxic and genotoxic potential of a wet gas scrubber effluent obtained from wooden-based biomass furnaces: A case study in the red ceramic industry in southern Brazil.

Red ceramic industry in southern Brazil commonly uses wood biomass as furnace fuel generating great amounts of gas emissions and ash. To avoid their impact on atmospheric environment, wet scrubbing is currently being applied in several plants. However, the water leachate formed could be potentially toxic and not managed as a common water-based effluent, since the resulting wastewater could carry many toxic compounds derived from wood pyrolysis.