Benefits from joint treatment of municipal and poultry‐processing wastewater

The costs of treating wastewater from poultry-processing plants and municipalities are simulated for joint treatment and separate facilities. Three sizes of poultry processing plants (51,000 to 207,000 birds per day) and six sizes of communities (3,000 to 20,000 people) were studied, and costs were developed for lagoon, activated sludge, and trickling filter systems. Lagoon systems are cost effective both for separate and joint treatment. Trickling filter systems cost less than activated sludge systems when only domestic wastes are treated. The reverse is true when poultry processing wastes are introduced. When activated sludge or lagoon treatment is used, joint treatment gives a substantial cost saving for any size of poultry processing plant, regardless of community size. The potential savings from joint treatment are sufficient to pay for up to 6 miles (9.6 km) of gravity main transmission of poultry processing plant wastes to a municipal treatment plant.