August 25, 2021

USPOULTRY: Researchers evaluate peracetic acid's effect in poultry processing wastewater treatment systems

USPOULTRY and the USPOULTRY Foundation announce the completion of a funded research project at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, the United States, in which researchers evaluate the fate and effect of peracetic acid in poultry processing wastewater treatment systems.

The research was made possible in part by an endowing foundation gift from Sanderson Farms and is part of the association’s comprehensive research programme encompassing all phases of poultry and egg production and processing.

Called "Project #F086: Fate and Effect of Peracetic Acid Solutions on Poultry Processing Biological Nitrogen Removal and Anaerobic Treatment Processes", the research was conducted by Dr. Spyros G. Pavlostathis (School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology).

Peracetic acid (PAA) remaining after its reaction with wastewater constituents may impact biological wastewater treatment processes. Thus, Dr. Pavlostathis and his team recently completed a research project that aimed to evaluate the fate and effect of PAA in poultry processing wastewater treatment systems.

Overall, the results suggest that aerobic and anoxic organic matter degradation, as well as nitrification, denitrification and anaerobic degradation with poultry processing wastewater, will not be affected during the normal plant operation when residual PAA and hydrogen peroxide are not present in the wastewater.

However, nitrification, denitrification and anaerobic degradation will be affected when wastewater with high residual PAA concentrations are expected at the end of the plant operation shift due to emptying of chiller tanks, or in the case of accidental PAA solution spills.

- USPOULTRY