Anaerobic Treatment of a Food-Processing Effluent

Urban, agricultural and industrial activities consume huge amount of water. These fields generate a high quantity of residue water thrown in nature (streams, rivers). Generally this water is neither treated nor recovered, thus constitutes a serious factor of pollution of the receiving environment. Therefore wastewater should be treated in order to minimize its impact on the nature. Our study analyzes the feasibility of a biological treatment trough an anaerobic means of sewage produced by the food processing industry. This wastewater is rejected without treatment in the river. The anaerobic digestion is the degradation of organic matter by bacteria and production of a biogas essentially made of methane and carbon dioxide. We focused in a first time on the analysis of chemical and physical parameters of pollution which influence the biological treatment of wastewater. The results of analyses showed that the content of physical and chemical parameters of pollution exceed widely the standards of rejection. In a second time, we applied a biological treatment to this effluent. The influence of pH, temperature and agitation was investigated. The best results were obtained at 35 °C and pH equal to 6.5.The obtained results of elimination from BOD5, COD, NH4 + and NO3- parameters have reached 62, 65, 90 and 90%, respectively.