Oxygenation system helps Koch Foods cut wastewater BODs
Dissolved air flotation (DAF) systems can separate 95 to 99 percent of fats, oils and greases (FOG) and total suspended solids (TSS) from organic wastewater — thus, they are an important treatment option for meat-processing facilities. Yet, DAF systems are less effective in lowering biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), which is sometimes necessary to reduce odors and meet municipal discharge requirements.
Against this backdrop, dramatic growth in demand of processed poultry from the fast-food industry created an opportunity for Koch Foods LLC to reevaluate its BOD wastewater-treatment process. The company’s poultry deboning facility in Morristown, Tenn., operates 24/7 and produces more than 70 million pounds of cut wings, and boneless chicken nuggets, tenders and breasts every year. That is about double the production rate of 2007, though over the next five years total process flow rates remained about the same (130,000 gpd). Therefore, mass loadings of organics in the effluents climbed — stretching demands on the DAF treatment system.