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LECTURER : DR J. TSHUMA
PART 5 ASSIGNMENT 2
ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING ASSIGNMENT
1. Poultry processing industry
a) Indicating all the processes
b) Identifying all the pollutants at each stage
c) State the hazardous effect of all the pollutants to the environment and
health
2. Using a well detailed block diagram describe how the water from this
industry can be treated, using specifications of the waste at each stage
before discharging into the environment. [40]
3. State and explain the waste water minimization procedure which can be
established in the fore mentioned processes. [6]
4. State and explain the EMA statutory which can be applied to the poultry
industry.
1.0 Introduction
The poultry processing industry is the most prominent branch in farming, due to its high levels of
productivity. However, there is a growing concern about the environmental damages caused by
such an activity, especially the atmospheric air pollution, as a consequence of the high volume of
residues generated and the damages made to the environment. Air pollution, despite being most
of the time detected by undesirable odoriferous substances, can be caused by numerous
atmospheric pollutants such as particulate matter, odorless gases, non-volatile compounds,
amongst others. This negatively impacts the health of both humans and animals, as well as of the
surrounding ecosystem. Broiler production can be understood as a range of steps necessary to
poultry meat production. Hence, their emissions can be computed all the way from the grain
production, the feed fabrication, the poultry farming to, finally, the slaughtering and recycling of
animal based products. As the poultry chain is well-segmented in its functions, it is necessary to
establish and quantify the real impacts caused by its sectors and define mitigation controlling
measures in regards to air pollutants.
1.1 Poultry processing
Poultry barns
Broilers are usually reared in confined systems, on floors covered with a material of specific
characteristics, commonly known as litter. The litter can be composed different materials usually
easily acquired in the region, are at a low price rate, having good absorption capability and no
risk to the health of the animals. The main used materials are shavings, coffee husks, peanut
hulls, rice husks, dry grass, and chopped corncob, among others. Due to the usually practiced
high stocking densities, the broilers have limited mobility, moving about exclusively for the
purpose of feeding and resting. In addition, at the end of the cycle, approximately 2.19 kg in
natural matter of waste are produced per animal. From poultry waste, gases and undesirable
odors are released.
The particulate matter emitted by poultry houses may contain pathogenic microorganisms in
suspension, such as the virus for New Castle’s disease, the avian-influenza virus, Escherichia
coli, Salmonella sp. and campylobacter.
Receiving areas
The inlet to the plant is normally designed in such a way that fluctuations in bird deliveries can
be dealt with adequately. This is necessary since the processing capacity has a fixed maximum.
At regular intervals birds are unloaded onto the holding areas and attached by their feet to a
conveyor belt and transported to the slaughter area. Waste load values of the receiving area vary
widely since they are derived from the quantity of dirt, manure and feather deposits which vary
with the length of holding time.
Stunning
Stunning is the process of rendering animals unconscious before slaughtering them for
food. It renders the birds insensitive to pain through the use of low voltage electrical
current.
Killing and bleeding by cutting the jugular veins
Metal guide bars hold the head and neck against a spinning circular blade; some
machines have two blades in an effort to cut both sides of the neck. Birds slaughtered for
human consumption must be killed by exsanguination (blood removal). After the neck is
cut, exsanguination takes approximately 2 min. Only about 50% of the blood is lost
during this process. The blood loss is necessary to allow the bird to fully expire and
ensure there is no blood pressure in skin or muscles so no bruising or discoloration
occurs. For birds that still have any blood pressure, the skin will turn pink or red during
scalding, a condition termed “cadaver,” and these carcasses will be condemned as not
suitable for human consumption. Blood, because of its high nutrient content, is collected
in a trough or pan and is not allowed to enter the waste water stream. It is usually sold to
a renderer for processing into blood meal.
Scalding
To loosen the feathers, the birds are held in water of temperatures ranging from 50°C to
60°C. Scalding tanks containing settle-able residues and feathers. Approximately 8 litres
of wastewater per bird are produced as a result of overflow.
De-feathering.
Feathers are mechanically abraded from the scalded birds, usually by rotating rubber
fingers. Removed feathers drop in underlying troughs.
Washing
The de-feathered carcasses receive a spray wash prior to evisceration
Evisceration.
The eviscerator drops a triangular paddle into the opened carcass to scoop out the viscera
from the abdominal cavity.
Inspection of the viscera
The carcass and viscera are examined for any sign of disease and abnormality. Inspection
stations on the shackle line have specific requirements, including adjustable chairs,
amount of light, and mirrors behind the carcasses to give inspectors the opportunity to
view the back of the carcass. Signs of the major disease for broiler chickens are observed
and recorded: synovitis, sepsis, leukosis, infectious process, air sacculitis, tumors, and
skin lesions.
Solid waste
Liquid waste
Waste water
Gaseous waste
Poultry production systems generate harmful emissions to the atmospheric air, from food and
supply production, such as soybean and corn, for example, to the slaughter industry, prior to the
subsequent marketing of the meat. Emissions to the environment range from undesirable odors,
due to the concentration of sulfuric gas, ammonia and methane, to the suspension of particulate
matter and dust. Slaughtering is an activity that requires great amounts of hot water and steam for
sterilisation and cleaning purposes. About 80 to 85% of the total energy required in a
slaughterhouse is produced by the combustion of fuel in the boilers at the industrial unit (thermal
energy – vapor and hot water). In the process of generating the energy for heating, gasses are
emitted (CO2, CO, NOx and SO2).
Emissions of CFC’s and NH3 into the air are the result of evaporation of chilling liquids and of
the stripping of chilling and freezing-machines, when out of use.
The concentrations of methane and hydrogen sulphide inside the poultry houses are relatively
low. Their effect is more pronounced at the stage of disposal and improper handling of wastes.
Hydrogen sulfide gas is formed by bacterial reduction of sulphate and the anaerobic
decomposition of sulphur-containing organic compounds present in manure.
1.3 Effects of the pollutants to the environment
Ammonia
Carbon monoxide
Although carbon monoxide is only a weak greenhouse gas, its influence on climate goes beyond
its own direct effects. Its presence affects concentrations of other greenhouse gases including
methane, tropospheric ozone and carbon dioxide.
Carbon monoxide readily reacts with the hydroxyl radical (OH) forming a much stronger,
greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide. This, in turn, increases concentrations of methane, another
strong greenhouse gas, because the most common way methane is removed from the atmosphere
is when it reacts with OH. So, the formation of carbon dioxide leaves fewer OH for methane to
react with thus increasing methane's concentration.
Nitrogen oxides
Nitric oxide is colourless and is oxidised in the atmosphere to form nitrogen dioxide. Nitrogen
dioxide has an odour, and is an acidic and highly corrosive gas that can affect the environment.
Nitrogen oxides are critical components of photochemical smog. They produce the yellowish-
brown colour of the smog. High levels of nitrogen dioxide are also harmful to vegetation that is
damaging foliage, decreasing growth or reducing crop yields.
Nitrogen dioxide can fade and discolour furnishings and fabrics, reduce visibility, and react with
surfaces.
Methane
Methane is a very strong greenhouse gas whose presence in the atmosphere leads to global
warming.
1.4 Effects of the pollutants to health
Ammonia
When in concentrations higher than tolerable, ammonia has quite a number of effects on human
health.
Ingestion of diatomaceous and cyanobacteria damages the neurological system and the
liver.
Irritation to the skin.
Respiratory diseases (200ppm)
Increased mortality of fish and other organisms.
Eye damage (75ppm)
Decrease in ration consumption and reduced weight gain, therefore interfering in the
well-being and health of the broilers.
Carbon monoxide
The acceptable levels for carbon monoxide for animals and humans, in turn, are in the order of
10 and 50 ppm, respectively. These values are for 8 h working days and continuous exposition of
the animals during the full production cycle. This pollutant is toxic, odorless and is present in the
facilities as a product of incomplete combustion of equipment used for heating in the initial
phase of bird lives and also due to improper ventilation.
Carbon monoxide causes, in birds, intoxication by the cells’ inability to carry oxygen, competing
with carbon and causing hypoxia with the consequent death of animals that are exposed to
elevated concentrations of this gas.
Carbon monoxide exposure results in reduced oxygen (O2) transport by hemoglobin and has
health effects that include headaches, increased risk of chest pain for persons with heart disease,
and impaired reaction timing. Generally, in otherwise healthy people, headache develops when
COHb concentrations reach 10%; tinnitus (ringing in the ear) and lightheadedness at 20%;
nausea, vomiting, and weakness at 20–30%; clouding of consciousness and coma at around 35%;
and death at around 50%.
Nitrogen oxides
Elevated levels of nitrogen dioxide can cause damage to the human respiratory tract and
increase a person's vulnerability to, and the severity of, respiratory infections and asthma.
Long-term exposure to high levels of nitrogen dioxide can cause chronic lung disease.
It may also affect the senses, for example, by reducing a person's ability to smell an
odour.
Carbon dioxide
CO2 concentrations around 600 to 4000 ppm do not threaten animal health; however, they
increase of the respiratory rate, consequently increasing heat production.
Hydrogen sulphide
Causes death in animals and humans (Tolerable concentrations of hydrogen sulfide for
broilers must be less than 2 ppm in the first week of life, and be between 3 and 6 ppm in
the 4th and 6th weeks).
Physical treatment
Physical treatment of poultry processing waste water is done using screens and filters. Screens
are the most popular form of primary physical treatment used in poultry processing wastewater
treatment. Screens serve a dual purpose, that is, they:
recover offal that is a valuable commodity for the poultry rendering industry
prepare wastewater for further treatment by removing the larger solid particles from the
waste stream that might otherwise impede the operation and maintenance of downstream
equipment and treatment processes.
Primary treatment screens used for poultry processing wastewater treatment come in various
forms (bar, shaker, rotary), and are classified as:
• Coarse – aperture size greater than 6.0 mm
• Fine - aperture size 1.5 mm to 6.0 mm
• Very fine - aperture size 0.2 mm – 1.5 mm
• Microscreens - aperture size 1.0 μm – 0.3 mm
Filters are more commonly used as a final wastewater treatment step to polish effluent for
discharge.
Chemical treatment
Although there are a variety of chemical wastewater treatment processes available for use
in the poultry processing industry, by far the most popular form utilized is dissolved air flotation
(DAF) (Harper et al., 1988). Best described as a physical/chemical treatment, DAF refers to the
process of water-solid separation by the introduction of fine gas (usually air) bubbles to the
wastewater stream. The efficiency of the system is enhanced by the addition of chemicals to
adjust pH and improve the flocculation of particulate matter. These microbubbles attach to the
solid particles in wastewater causing a solid-gas matrix. The resulting increased buoyancy of the
matrix causes it to rise to the surface of the water where it can be collected and removed by
mechanical skimming. The use of DAF technology has seen widespread application since the
mid-1960s (WEF, 1998). ‘Air-assisted’ DAF units are operated solely as a physical treatment
system with no chemical addition (WEF, 1998). In 1996, Smith reported on the successful
upgrade of a Georgia poultry processing plant using DAF technology. DAF units operating
without chemical addition were able to reduce BOD, TSS, and FOG by 35 percent, 48 percent,
and 42 percent, respectively.
The most important aspect of an effectively operating DAF unit is bubble size (Cassell et
al., 1975). DAF units produce bubbles that are microscopic in size. Typical DAF bubble size
distribution is in the range of 10 to 100 m (micron). DAF bubbles give wastewater a milky
white appearance (WEF, 1998). In addition to the introduction of air, and to increase removal
efficiencies, most DAF systems also utilize a variety of flocculent chemicals that aid in the
coagulation of the solid materials in the waste stream.
Poultry processing wastewater PPW consists of various constituents in the forms of particulates,
organics, and nutrients (Eremektar et al.,1999; Welch and Lindell, 1992). PPW is the cumulative
wastewater that is generated by uncollected blood, feathers, eviscerations, and cleaning of the
live haul area at a slaughter plant (Kiepper et al., 2008). Screens are the most popular form of
preliminary physical treatment process used in on-site poultry wastewater treatment systems to
remove PPW constituents (Kiepper, 2003).
Screening systems typically consist of primary and secondary rotary screens that remove solids
500 micron (μm) in size (Del Nary et al., 2007; Kiepper, 2003). Screens recover offal, which has
substantial value as a raw material for the poultry rendering industry, and remove larger solid
particles from PPW preparing the wastewater stream for advanced treatment systems (Pankratz,
1995).
Even after screening, PPW has relatively high concentrations of biochemical oxygen demand
(BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solids (TSS), nitrogen and
phosphorus. Significant identified constituents leading to these high concentrations include
uncollected blood, solubilized fat, urine and feces
(USEPA, 2002). One of the most important analytical characteristics of PPW is total solids (TS),
which is composed of floating, settleable, and colloidal matter (Metcalf and Eddy, 2003).
TS are defined as the residual material remaining in a vessel after evaporating a sample and then
drying it at a specific temperature (APHA, 1992). TS can be categorized by particle size as total
suspended solids (TSS) plus total dissolved solids (TDS), or by organic content as total volatile
solids (TVS) plus total fixed solids (TFS) (CSUS, 1993). TSS is defined as the portion the TS
retained on a filter with a specific pore size (2.0μm or smaller) (Metcalf and Eddy, 2003). TVS is
the weight loss after TS is ignited (APHA, 1992). Solids are an environmental concern because
its impact can increase turbidity which can clog fish gills and reduce oxygen transport upon
entering water bodies (Mittal, 2004).
(1975) establishes blood as the strongest single pollutant in a poultry processing plant. Blood
makes up approximately 8% of the live weight of a broiler (Duke, 1973). During the process of
bleeding a broiler, 40-60% of the total blood present in the body exits the carcass (Wilson,
1998). In 1950, Porges reported a BOD of 92,000 mg/L for chicken blood. This value was
similar to the BOD of chicken blood reported by Bates in 1948 at 100,000 mg/L. In 1992,
Hansen and West reported a COD of raw blood from an animal rendering plant at
150,000 mg/L. After killing, broilers are allowed to bleed out for a period of 1-2 minutes prior to
entering a scalder tank designed to loosen feather follicles to aid in picking. In the scalder, any
remaining draining blood along with manure and external dirt on the carcass washes into the
scalder, substantially increasing the pollutant load of the PPW stream (Porges, 1950). The
effectiveness of bloodcollection in processing plants has great impact on the PPW stream due to
the heavy organic load which can elevate BOD and COD levels (Weakly et al., 1972).Elevated
organic levels in PPW not only pose challenges in wastewater treatment, but also are a major
economic concern for plants discharging to municipal sewers. Most municipalities that receive
high-strength industrial wastewater have a surcharge fee structure in place that charge industries
additional fees based on their specific discharge (USEPA, 1975).
Primary sources of wastewater are from the scalder, which may use fresh water as
makeup; from chiller overflow from the evisceration process; and from cleanup.
Evisceration flow consists of numerous hand wash stations, as well as gizzard splitters,
venting machines.
Daily cleanup includes not only washing the plant after shutdown but also cleaning the
live bird storage area. BOD and suspended solids sources are from the same general
locations, although blood handling affects BOD loads much more than it does flow.
Cleanup accounts for over 20 percent of the BOD load and over 25 percent of the
wastewater flow.