Environmental pollution from slaughter house, Meat center :Remedial measure is effluent treatment. Dr.Kedar Karki. Introduction.

Since last year regular monitoring of local butchery and meat centers has been initiated. So that consumer can get clean, hygienic, and pure meat. The major environmental issues associated with slaughterhouse and meat plant operations are the high consumption of water,the discharge of effluent with high Biological Oxygen demand value,the consumption of of energy ,noise pollution,odour pollution,and the problem of solid waste disposal.The common environmental problems encountered in abattoir practices are the mass disposal area,liquid waste disposal,effluent salinity,waste water,strom water,solid waste,non processed waste,air-borne waste,dust,coal burning emissions,greenhouse

gases,diseases. The main wastes in meat and poultry processing units originate from lairage,killing,hide removing or dehairing,pounch handling,rendering,trimming,,processing and cleaning operations .Since large volums of water are used in all these unit operations,effluents willbe voluminous waste water with high pollution load. CONTAMINANTS: The contaminants that requires effluent treatments are blood,fat,mnure punchcontents,detrgent,disinfectents,strong alkali,strong acids,bacteria heatfollowing measureif applied can minimse there influence. Blood: and and

Blood can be collected and processed to a valuable by-product like blood meal.Allowing of blood into the effluent system system causes double loss sale value foregone and effluent treatment cost increases.

Fat: Fat is ever present in abattoir operations it is trmmed off,pulled off and fall of the meat in the various operations.Fat is droped into bins,chutes orconveyors to be transported to either edible or inedible rendering plants where it is processed into tallow and meals.Fat that enters the effluent system is downgraded in value.The longer it remains in the system,the greater the degree of degradation causing higher level of free fatty acid.Fats in the effluent clog the primary treatment screens So do not let fat into the effluent if you can sensibly avoid it. Manure and paunch content: The solid content of manure is mostly cellulose which does not break down under bacterial action .It reduces the depth of pond and thus its capacity .Manure is also a significant contributer to biochemichal oxygen demand.Ideally stock yards should be dry cleaned prior to washing.The dry dumped contents are suitable for composting with other waste material. Brines: It arises from hide and skin salting,ham and bacon plant.Hide salts contain pesticides and fungicides,so it is most undesirable if it enters the effluent system. Cleaning Detergent,Disinfectent and Pesticides: Meat processing plants must be clean to insure that a very high standard of hygiene is maintained.The chemicals are detremental to effluent quality. In order to reduce the cost of effluent treatment,certan fundamental of cleaning must be followed: dry clean,collect all solids,wash with cold water,residual blood with ambient water,wash down with hot water to bactericides.Rinse of bactericide after contact time for minimising subsequent cost and problems in the effluent system.The dry collection of solids and minimisation of the use of water and detergents are paramount but not at the cost of hygienic standards. StrongAcids and Alkalies: Strong acids and alkalies are used in gear cleaning and similar activities.They should not be allowed to enter the effluent system.If they have to enter the system the acid/alkali should be released slowly and diluted with additional water before it enter the system to avoide corrosion of pipe work and catch basin. Abattoir and meat plant effluent: It is comprised of a large amount of highly polluting waste water,semisolids,and solids resulting to very high biochemical demand value.The municipal swage,sanitory sewage or domestic sewage contains about2% solids,where as slaughterhouse/meat plants contain about 10% solids.These wastes are called strong sewage because thier biochemical oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand value are very high.

Characteristics of effluents: Pollutant cocentrations in abattoir effluents can vary significantly from one plants to other depending on the extent to which wastes are excluded from theeffluent stream.During various processing operation in a modern slaughterhouse,the volume of effluents generated is a relection of the volumes of water used,since 80-95% of water used in abattoir is discharged as effluent.The reminder is held up with by-products and wastes or lost through evaporation.Meat processing effluents generally exhibits following properties.

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High organic loads due to the presence of blood,fat ,and undigested stomach cotents. High levels of fat. Fluctuation of pH due to the presence of caustic and acidic cleaning agents. High level of nitrogen,phosphorus and salt. High temperature.

EFFLUENT TREATMENT METHODES: The treatment of effluents are broadly devided into tow catagories primary treatment and secondary treatment. Primary Effluent Treatment: Primary treatment involves methodes that remove solids.This is done by letting all the effluent water pass through filters,screen,sediment basi and grid chambers. Screens: The first component of the primary treatment process is the screening of gross solids from effluent streams.A variety of screen types are available.These are stationary screens,shaker screen and rotating screen.The screen materials may be woven wire or wedge wire depending upon the application.The woven wire screen are suitable for gut content,yard and truck washing.Wedge wire has the advantage of being relatively strong and abuse resistant.It reduces the chances of screen becoming blocked with fats and other tissues. Saveall: The effluent stream is then passed to a system for the removal of bulk of the remaining fat and settlable solids.Saveall can range from a simple catch pit with the fat and solid removed manually to coplex engineer designed unit with top and bottom scraper removing fat and solids continuously.The aim of Saveall is to use natural forces to float the fat and sttle out the solids.

Dissolved Air Floatation: An improvment in the saveall principle is the use of air bubbles to assist the floatation of fat.Properly designed or operated Dissolved Air Floatation unit can very quickly and efficiently remove both fat and suspended solids from waste water.The principle of DAF has been developed for a multitude of function ranging from mineral processing to cocentration of waste activated sludge.DAF works on the principle that air dissolved in a solution under pressure will come out from the solution if the pressure is released.Microbubbles thus formed will tend to adhere to solid particles and increase the tendency for the particle to float. The specific gravity of the aggregate particle is then lighter than water and float to the surface where it can be skimmed out.The rate of removal is a function of particle size.Coagulants such as ferric chloride,lime,andpolymer may be added to increase particle size,therby increase the efficiency of removal.By this process 62-90% of the oil and grease removal and 30-80% COD reduction in waste from meat packing effluents are achieved. The advantage of this process are low capital cost,groun area requirement,operater time and flexibility of operations in respect of recovary of oil and protien. Alternative DAF systems: This system consist of a self-contained microbubble generating system,which is installed in the air floatation tank.Primary effluent is delivered directly to the tank and there is no requirement for recycled effluents and pressurised air.The unit comprises a vertical air suction pipe and two part impeller in the upper section.There is low pressure turbulent mixing of water and air creating microbubbles.The waste water has not to pass through the impeller so there is no cloging.The lower part of the impeller dispenses the air bubbles,which then behave much as they would in a conventional DAF unit. Solid Waste Disposal: The solidwaste produced inthe meat industry include:

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Yard manure and paunch content. Effluent screenings. Primary and secondary effluent treatment. Saveall and DAF top scraping. Coal field boiler ash Paper,cardboard,plastics.

These solid wastes should be recycled economically and by environmentally acceptable

means. Traditional disposal methods: It includes land disposal by spreading and burial of meat plant solid and semisolid waste .The plastic matterand paper needs to go land fill but the organic fraction can certainly by returned to the soil by composting. Paunch dry dumping: If dry dumping is practised the lay down to effluent stream isreduced. The paunch may need to be dewatered or mixedd with dry material before treatment.The most economically attractive and environmentally acceptable option is blood-paunchmeal. Composting process: Composting can be defined as the stablisation of organic solid waste materials by microorganism and fungi in aerobic moist condition at elevated temperature.During composting the readily biodegradable componants of the waste are oxidised leaving an organic residue which is relatively stable.Composting is a special form of aerobicdecompositionin that metabolic heat generated by the microorganismelevates the temperature of compost.The elevated temperature promotes the rapid decomposition rates. Composting methods: It includs static windrow,Turned windrow and forced aeration composting .Turned windrows and the aerated static pile are the composting methods most suited for treatment of plan waste.The high moisture waste that has the potential to creat nuisance odour is best handled.

Bulking agent may be added toimprove the structure of waste and to reduce the overallmoisture contentthereby aiding aeration.The final product must be of consistent quality and needs active marketing in order to promot sales as soil conditioner,potting mix ingredient or complet plant growth medium. Advantages of composting: The advantages of composting an organic waste are:

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It is cost effective. Creats lesser offensive odour. Has less effect on environment. Dose not cotain phytotoxic substances.

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Destroy pathogens and most common. Results in cocentrated plant nuetrients,easily spread on crop land and markrted as soil.

Secondary effluent treatment:

There are number of pond systems that are commonly used for the secondary treatment of meat industry effluent materials. But these are practices only in modern organized slaughter house.

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Anaerobic pond. Facultative pond. Forced aeration pond. Natural aeration ponds.

Final treatment: After primary and secondary treatments of abattoir/meat plant effluent,liquid,solids are treated separately before their release. The liquid effluent is disinfected by the addition of chlorine. Usually chlorine gas is injected into the effluents 15-30 minutes before the treated water is dischrged intoa water course Before its release the effluent should posses a certain quality which should be established by a government agency. Conclusion: In order to successfully carry on the unit operations of meat industry without legal complications,pollution control steps are quite inevitable. It is mandatory for a modern abattoir to meet the minimum standards prescribed for pollution control while disposing the slaughterhouse effluents. To achieve this, proper disposal of solids waste and liquid wastes must be carried on following different primay and secondary treatment methods depending upon the land area and facilities available in the meat plant.These effluent treatment methods will not only minimise the pollution hazards but also can be very useful in recovering and recycling of the slaughterhouse and meat unit waste for economic returns and thus be quite useful for sustainability of the industry.