Biological Pre-treatment of Poultry Slaughterhouse Wastewater

Abstract

Poultry slaughterhouse wastewater (PSW) is usually disposed of by discharging it into watercourses, municipal wastewater treatment works (WWTWs), or by scattering it on grass and croplands. However, the hazardous nature of the PSW makes it injurious to human health and the environment. As a result, the South African Government has established a Waste Discharge Charge System (WDCS), which is based on the "polluter pays" principle, as a means to encourage industrial waste dischargers to reduce their waste and use water resources optimally. Therefore, the poultry industry is required to adopt the latest technologies that will reduce freshwater consumption and increase reuse practices to achieve zero effluent discharges. This paper will present wastewater treatment options available, and give motivation as to why Sumo, which is a wastewater process simulator, should be applied to evaluate the performance of an anaerobic bioreactor.