Constructed Wetlands for Industrial Wastewater Treatment

7Treatment of Effluents from Meat, Vegetable and Soft Drinks Processing using Constructed Wetlands

Marco Hartl¹, Joseph Hogan², and Vasiliki Ioannidou³

¹GEMMA – Environmental Engineering and Microbiology Research Group, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – BarcelonaTech, Barcelona, Spain

²Ecol-Eau, Montreal, Canada

³School of Engineering & the Built Environment, Birmingham City University, Birmingham, UK

7.1 Treatment of Slaughterhouse and Meat Processing Wastewater

The worldwide consumption of meat is increasing as part of a global dietary transition, driven by rising incomes and urbanization. Besides the negative effects on human health, this process has also a severe impact on the environment and earth's water resources [2]. Fresh water is a limited resource and accounts only for a fraction of the earth's water reservoirs. Hence, it is of uttermost importance to protect this vital resource from excessive abstraction and pollution [1].

Slaughterhouse wastewater (SWW) is produced in large volumes during the slaughtering of animals and the cleaning of the slaughterhouse facilities. In addition, meat processing wastewater accounts for 24% of the freshwater consumption of beverage and food industries [3].

SWW has a very complex composition and contains high organic loads – due to blood, fat, manure, and undigested stomach contents – and, therefore, significant concentrations of total organic carbon (TOC), biological oxygen demand (BOD), ...