Long-term operating performance of a poultry slaughterhouse wastewater treatment plant

Author(s)

Del Nery, V. ; Nardi, I. R. de ; Damianovic, Márcia Helena Rissato Zamariolli ^[3] ; Pozzi, E. ; Amorim, A. K. B. ; Zaiat, M.

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: RESOURCES CONSERVATION AND RECYCLING; v. 50, n. 1, p. 102-114, Mar. 2004.
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Sanitary Engineering

Abstract

This paper evaluates the performance and process stability of a full-scale poultry slaughterhouse wastewater treatment plant in removing organic matter over a 4-year operation. The wastewater treatment system is composed of rotary and static screens, an equalization tank, a dissolved-air flotation (DAF) system and two upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors. The operating strategy for UASB reactors to treat slaughterhouse wastewater involves the use of a tank to dampen fluctuations in flow and organic load, a DAF system to remove oil and grease (O&G) and suspended solids (SS) and an intermittent operation. Surface-loading rates of 1.6 +/- 0.4 m(3)/m(2) h applied to the DAF system in the operation under study resulted in O&G and SS removal efficiencies of 51 +/- 16% and 37 +/- 16%, respectively. The organic loading rate of 1.6 +/- 0.4 kg COD/m(3) day and the upflow velocities of 0.3 +/- 0.1 m/h applied to the UASB reactors resulted in a similar and satisfactory performance, showing total chemical oxygen demand and soluble chemical oxygen demand removal efficiencies of 67% and 85%, respectively. Although the organic matter removal efficiencies of the treatment plant reached about 90%, the nutrients concentrations in the treated effluent pointed to the need for advanced wastewater treatment. (AU)