Performance and Kinetic Analysis of a Static Granular Bed Reactor Treating Poultry Slaughterhouse Wastewater

Poultry slaughterhouses consume a substantial quantity of clean 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, Static Granular Bed Reactor (SGBR) was used to treat the PSW from a poultry product processing facility in the Western Cape, South Africa. The performance of the SGBR was primarily evaluated for chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal with the kinetics of the treatment process of the PSW being evaluated using the modified Stover-Kincannon and the Grau second order models. Overall, the treatment efficiency averaged >90% when the SGBR were operated at steady state for a 68 days experimental trial. Furthermore, both the Grau second-order and the modified Stover-Kincannon models were used to develop a kinetic model which sufficiently described the COD removal. The Grau second-order model produced a better fit (R2 > 0.99) when compared to the Stover-Kincannon model (R2 > 0.80). The kinetic relationship derived from the lab-scale SGBRs can thus be used to predict the performance of the pilot scale SGBRs treating the PSW under mesophilic conditions.