Environmental impact assessment for a meat processing industry in Turkey: Wastewater treatment plant

Abstract

The meat processing industry has many unfavorable impacts to the environment in Turkey. One of these impacts is wastewater treatment. Meat processing wastewater contains large amounts of proteins, fats, nutrients such as nitrogen, and pathogenic and non-pathogenic microorganisms and viruses. The high organic and hazardous content of wastewater causes environmental challenges for the flora and fauna in receiving water bodies unless it is treated adequately. Due to these reasons, the treatment process to be implemented should be the least damaging to the environment. In this study, three treatment scenarios that include a UASB (upflow anaerobic sludge bed) reactor (Scenario-1), an advanced oxidation process that includes UV/H2 O2 treatment (Scenario-2) and a membrane bioreactor (Scenario-3) have been studied for a meat processor’s wastewater treatment plant. For these three scenarios, an environmental impact assessment was undertaken using the Fine-Kinney method. The evaluation results revealed that Scenario-2 has the smallest environmental impact value with 475. Scenario-1 has the highest total environmental impact value as 765. Scenario-3’s environmental impact value is 637. According to the evaluation results, the UV/H2 O2 process is the most applicable technology for wastewater treatment in Turkey’s meat industry.