TREATMENT OF ABATTOIR’S WASTEWATER BY USING INTEGRATED APPROACH

Abstract

The demand for meat is increasing with time and population growth. To meet the needs, the number of abattoirs is also increasing. Slaughtering facilities use a large amount of water in their operations and abattoirs are the largest consumers of freshwater in the livestock industry. Abattoir wastewater has a high content of organics and nutrients which needs integrated approaches to treatment for the safe discharge of wastewater to the environment. In this study, an integrated approach was used to reduce the pollution load of wastewater in order to meet the local discharge limits (PAK-NEQS). The integrated wastewater treatment approach included settling, aeration, coagulation, acid precipitation, and biochar treatment. The higher removal efficiency (90-95%) of organic load was achieved by aeration, coagulation, and acid precipitation treatment methods. Nutrients were removed with an efficiency of 85-90% by aeration, acid precipitation, and biochar treatment methods. The BOD and COD removal efficiency was 95-99% with the use of this integrated system. By aeration, coagulation, and biochar treatment, the TDS concentration was significantly lowered with a removal efficiency of 95-97%. Overall, the integrated treatment system reduced the concentrations of all parameter of wastewater quality below the PAK-NEQS permissible limits. In addition, heavy metals concentration in the treated wastewater and collected sludge (produced during various treatment processes) was below the local discharge limits. Therefore, it is recommended to implement the integrated treatment system at the abattoir’s facility before discharging the effluent into any water body. Furthermore, the sludge obtained during the treatment system could be utilized as nutrient rich organic fertilizer without any toxic effect