Electrochemical treatment of wastewaters from poultry slaughtering and processing by using iron electrodes

Abstract

Poultry slaughterhouse wastewater (PSWW) originating from slaughterhouse and meat processing contains high concentrations of organic substances. Discharging this kind of wastewater to a river, sewer system or soil causes a severe pollution problem for receiving body. The aim of this study was to investigate the treatability of poultry slaughterhouse wastewater using electrocoagulation method. The reactor had a cylindrical iron shell with three separate iron rods mounted vertically inside that to work as cathode and anode respectively. The effects of the current density, supporting electrolyte (Na2SO4) dosage, wastewater flow rate, initial pH and the polyelectrolyte material were evaluated in a continuous flow mode. The peroxy-electrocoagulation was also investigated by addition of H2O2 with different concentrations to reach higher removal efficiencies. When the poultry slaughter wastewater was subjected to the peroxy-electrocoagulation, chemical oxygen demand (COD) decreased to 425 mg L-1 from 8800 mg L-1 which corresponds to 95.48% of removal efficiency with an operation cost of $9 per m(3) of wastewater treated