Poultry Panic: Urgent Wastewater Fix Saves Poultry Plant From Fines

On a late Friday afternoon in June, a call came in to USP Technologies (USP): a major poultry processing plant in the southeast was in danger of violating their wastewater discharge permit. They needed a solution immediately or faced fines, a temporary shutdown of operations and significant lost revenue.

The poultry plant’s 3.5 million gallon aerated wastewater treatment lagoon was unable to maintain sufficient dissolved oxygen (DO) and was unable to achieve ammonia and biological oxygen demand (BOD) discharge requirements. These conditions were brought about by a combination of warm seasonal temperatures of over 90 F, (lower O2 solubility) and elevated BOD loading to the treatment system. In addition, the oxygen-depleted lagoon was generating significant hydrogen sulfide (H2S) odors.