Lack of good management practice of chicken slaughterhouse wastewater (CSWW) has caused pollution into water bodies. In this study, the potential of seed sludge acclimatised modified synthetic wastewater (MSWW) on bioreactor performance and energy recovery of CSWW treatment was investigated. Two sets of upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors were employed. The seed sludge in UASB 2 was acclimatised with MSWW for 30 days. In UASB 1, no acclimatisation process was undertaken on seed sludge for control purposes. After the acclimatisation process of UASB 2, both reactors were supplied with CSWW under the same condition of organic loading rate (OLR = 0.5 to 6 gCOD/L/d) and mesophilic condition (37 °C). COD removal efficiencies of UASB 2 were >80% all through the steady-state of the OLR applied. Meanwhile, a drastic decrease in overall performance was observed in UASB 1 when the OLR was increased to 3, 4, 5, and 6 gCOD/L/d. Energy recovery from laboratory scale and projected value from commercial-scale bioreactor were 0.056 kWh and 790.49 kWh per day, respectively. Preliminary design of an on-site commercial-scale anaerobic reactor was proposed at a capacity of 60 m3.

This study compares the performance of the Hollow Fiber (HF) and Flat Sheet (FS) types of membrane bioreactors (MBRs) for the treatment of food and beverage (F&B) industry wastewater in a pilot-scale study of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). HF and FS membrane configurations were evaluated at two different Mixed Liquor Suspended Solid (MLSS) levels: 6000 mg/L and 12,000 mg/L. The performance of each configuration was evaluated in terms of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Total Suspended Solid (TSS) removals for effluent quality measurement. The transmembrane pressure (TMP), flux rate, and silt density index (SDI) were monitored and calculated for membrane fouling assessment. The results show that the rejection rates of COD and TSS for HF and FS membrane types were more than 84% for the two different MLSS levels. During the study, the HF membrane recorded 0.3 bar transmembrane pressure, which complies with the recommended range (i.e., two to three times of chemical cleaning). On the other hand, the FS membrane operates without chemical cleaning, and the TMP value was below the recommended range at 0.2 bar. It was found that the flux values recorded for both the HF and FS systems were within the recommended range of 40 L/m2/h. Analysis of SDI revealed that the calculated index ranged between 1 and 2.38 and was within the allowable limit of 3. Both types of MBR consistently achieved an 80% to 95% rejection rate of COD and TSS. Effluent quality measurement of treated F&B wastewater in this pilot-scale study using a WWTP integrated with an MBR indicated a good achievement with compliance with the Malaysia industrial effluent discharge standards.