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Wastewater Treatment for Beef Slaughterhouse

Ecologix Environmental Systems offers a comprehensive selection of wastewater equipment and technologies that solve the challenges that fats, oils, grease, proteins, and carbohydrates pose to slaughterhouses and rendering plants. Whether your process requires pretreatment, biological treatment, membrane filtration, disinfection, or odor removal, Ecologix has the expertise and treatment technologies to meet and exceed your compliance standards.

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Slaughterhouse plant wastewater treatment
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Slaughterhouse and rendering plant wastewater treatment

Ecologix offers wastewater treatment equipment and technologies for the fats, oils, grease, proteins, and carbohydrates generated by slaughterhouses and rendering plants. Treatment options include pretreatment, biological treatment, membrane filtration, disinfection, and odor removal.

Slaughterhouse wastewater challenges

Water is used for ingredients, cleaning, and sanitizing plant equipment and work areas. Effective wastewater handling and reuse can lower costs and support environmental compliance.

Process design should reflect the needs of each plant. When regulated constituents must be reduced to permissible discharge levels, pretreatment is often the most direct option. Enhanced dissolved air flotation can significantly remove suspended solids, oil and grease, and BOD.

Influent characteristics

Typical measured contaminant levels as wastewater leaves the plant:

  • COD: 4,500–12,000 mg/L
  • BOD: 2,500–8,000 mg/L
  • TSS: 600–4,500 mg/L

Required effluent characteristics

Typical limits before treated wastewater is discharged into public water supplies:

  • COD: 500–1,000 mg/L
  • BOD: 250–500 mg/L
  • TSS: 250 mg/L
  • FOG: 100 mg/L

Optimum treatment solutions

Slaughterhouse and rendering plant wastewater generally requires pretreatment before discharge to municipal sewers. Dissolved air flotation is an efficient and cost-effective approach for removing suspended solids, fats, oils, and grease.

Enhanced DAF systems can reduce FOG by up to 99% and TSS by up to 97%. Flocculant addition and pH adjustment for FOG removal can be automated with the Ecologix Enhanced Dissolved Air Flotation System.

Slaughterhouse wastewater treatment process flow diagram

DAF process description

  1. A DAF system injects microscopic air bubbles into the DAF tank.
  2. The bubbles attach to insoluble pollutant materials and float them to the surface.
  3. Heavier food-processing materials may require flocculants, which form clusters that float to the pretreatment vessel surface.
  4. Surface contaminants, or sludge, are scraped from the water and removed from the treatment process.
  5. Clean water exits at the bottom of the DAF vessel and can be discharged to the sewer.
Slaughterhouse wastewater treatment process using dissolved air flotation

Case study: Lime Springs Beef

Lime Springs Beef in Lime Springs, Iowa built a slaughterhouse processing up to 44,000 GPD (30 GPM) that generated high TSS. The facility could not discharge untreated wastewater to the municipal treatment plant because of high BOD loads.

Wastewater treatment requirements

The facility needed to meet stringent pretreatment regulations before discharging to the public collection system.

The solution

Ecologix installed an E-505 DAF system including:

  • Polymer activation system
  • Chemical feed system
  • Rotary drum screen
  • Sludge pump skid
  • Sludge dewatering bin
  • PLC control system for the pretreatment equipment

Final results

The DAF system reduced TSS, FOG, and BOD loads to acceptable levels for entering the public wastewater treatment plant.

Ecologix DAF Model E-505 for slaughterhouse wastewater treatment

If your slaughterhouse or rendering plant is struggling to meet wastewater discharge requirements, call 1-678-514-2100 or contact us to discuss a custom onsite package plant.