December 21, 2020

USPOULTRY: Researchers investigate effect of PAA solutions in poultry processing wastewater treatment

USPOULTRY and the USPOULTRY Foundation have announced the completion of a funded research project at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, the United States, in which researchers investigated the effect of peracetic acid (PAA) solutions in poultry processing wastewater treatment systems.

The research was made possible in part by an endowing Foundation gift from the Stanley & Dorothy Frank Family Foundation and is part of the association's comprehensive research programme encompassing all phases of poultry and egg production and processing.

The project - known as "Project #715: Fate and Effect of Commercial Peracetic Acid Solutions in Poultry Processing Wastewater Biological Treatment Systems" - involved Dr. Spyros G. Pavlostathis and Dr. Jinchen Chen of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology.

Dr. Pavlostathis and Dr. Chen focused on quantifying H2O2 decomposition kinetics in dissolved air flotation (DAF) effluent, as well as the long-term effect of PAA and H2O2 on the treatment efficiency of biological aerobic, nitrifying and denitrifying degradation processes.

The outcome of this study provides systematic information to the poultry processing industry to develop a sound methodology and employ other measures that will ensure the continuous use of PAA solutions to achieve pathogen-free products, while avoiding upsets of biological processes used for the treatment of PAA-bearing wastewater.

- USPOULTRY