Poultry slaughterhouses are generally large consumers of fresh water, which is exhausted as wastewater characterized by a high concentration of biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand COD, and fats, oil, and grease (FOG). Cost-effective methods are required for the treatment of poultry slaughterhouse wastewater, with the aim of attaining a high quality effluent that can be reused in industrial processes to promote sustainability. As compared to conventional treatment methods, electrocoagulation is an efficient and low-cost system. Electrocoagulation is environmentally friendly, treating wastewater without the need of chemicals, thus limiting secondary pollution. The metal anodes initiate electrochemical reactions for coagulation and flocculation. Its distinct advantages include compact installation and simple operation. This paper offers a comprehensive review of recent literature that has been dedicated to utilizing electrocoagulation for poultry slaughterhouse wastewater treatment. This paper also examines aspects such as theory, potential applications, current applications, as well as economical assessment of the technique.

The feasibility of a biological (EcoflushTM) and/or electrocoagulation (EC) treatment system in removing chemical oxygen demand (COD) and fats, oils, and grease (FOG) from poultry slaughterhouse wastewater (PSW) were studied. The response surface methodology (RSM) was used to identify the optimum operating condition for EC and its integration with EcoflushTM as a pre-treatment for the removal of lipids. The optimum operating conditions were obtained at a pH of 3.05, a current density of 66.9 A/m2, 74-min of treatment time, and without Ecoflush™. These conditions produced a high-quality clarified effluent after 92.4% COD reduction and 99% FOG reduction. The treatment with EcoflushTM only resulted in 85–99% FOG reduction, 20–50% COD reduction, and odourless effluent. However, the combination of both processes (EcoflushTM and EC) did not yield a significant difference (F test, p > 0.05) when compared to the performance of EC alone. Despite the low removal percentages of nitrogen and phosphorus, the present study proved that EC is an effective method for the removal of COD and FOG, rendering an effluent that meets the permissible discharge standards for the City of Cape Town. The novel Ecoflush™ also proved to be very efficient in the removal of FOG from PSW.