Performance evaluation and kinetic parameter analysis for static granular bed reactor (SGBR) for treating poultry slaughterhouse wastewater at mesophilic condition

Abstract

Poultry slaughterhouses consume a substantial quantity of potable water during processing of live birds. Subsequently, high strength poultry slaughterhouse wastewater (PSW) is generated at different stages during poultry product processing. In this study, a Static Granular Bed Reactor (SGBR) was used to treat the PSW from a poultry processing facility in the Western Cape, South Africa. The performance of the SGBR was primarily evaluated for chemical oxygen demand (tCOD) removal with the kinetics of the treatment process for PSW being evaluated using both the Grau second-order and the modified Stover-Kincannon models to predict the effluent COD. The overall treatment efficiency averaged .80% when the SGBR was operated at steady state for 110 days’ experimental trial. On the basis of the experimental results, the predicted values of the tCOD concentration using the Grau second-order and modified Stover Kincannon model were inconsistent with the experimental data indicating an insignificant correlation with predicted tCOD concentration being higher than the experimental data. The high variation between the modelled and experimental data based on both the Grau second order and modified Stover-Kincannon model was observed at higher organic loading rates when the reactor was fed with undiluted influent, phenomena attributed to tCOD entrapped inside the SGBR, especially during periods of clogging caused by the accumulation of suspended solids in the underdrain.