Effect of polyelectrolytes and quaternary ammonium compounds on the anaerobic biological treatment of poultry processing wastewater

Quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) and polyelectrolytes are extensively used in poultry processing facilities as sanitizing agents and flocculants, respectively. These chemicals may affect the performance of biological treatment systems resulting in low effluent quality. The impact of these chemicals on the anaerobic treatment of poultry processing wastewater (PPWW) samples, collected before and after a solids separation process, was tested in batch assays using a mixed, mesophilic (35 °C) methanogenic culture. The results of this study showed that Vigilquat® (VQ), a commercial mixture of four QACs, has a high affinity for the organic solids in the PPWW. Cationic and anionic polyelectrolytes, alone or in combination, did not have any adverse effect on the anaerobic biodegradation of PPWW at concentrations typically used in poultry processing facilities (20 and 5 mg/L, respectively). In spite of the high affinity of VQ for the PPWW solids, VQ at a concentration of 50 mg/L and above adversely affected the anaerobic degradation of the PPWW, which resulted in a significantly reduced methane production and accumulation of volatile fatty acids. In the absence of any inhibition, the methane yield varied from 0.76 to 0.98 L methane at STP per g volatile solids added. VQ was not biodegraded under the batch, methanogenic conditions used in this study.