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The performance of electrocoagulation (EC) technique for decolorization and chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction of anaerobically pretreated poultry manure wastewater was investigated in a laboratory batch study. Two identical 15.7-L up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors were first run under various organic and hydraulic loading conditions for 216 days. Effects of operating parameters such as type of sacrificial electrode material, time of electrolysis, current density, initial pH, and electrolyte concentration were further studied to optimize conditions for the post-treatment of UASB pretreated poultry manure wastewater. Preliminary tests conducted with two types of sacrificial electrodes (Al and Fe) resulted that Al electrodes were found to be more effective for both COD and color removals than Fe electrodes. The subsequent EC tests performed with Al electrodes showed that optimal operating conditions were determined to be an initial pH of 5.0, a current density of 15mA/cm(2), and an electrolysis time of 20min. The results indicated that under the optimal conditions, about 90% of COD and 92% of residual color could be effectively removed from the UASB effluent with the further contribution of the EC technology used as a post-treatment unit. In this study, the possible acute toxicity of the EC effluent was also evaluated by a static bioassay test procedure using guppy fish (Lebistes reticulatus). Findings of this study clearly indicated that incorporation of a toxicological test into conventional physicochemical analyses provided a better evaluation of final discharge characteristics.

A nonlinear modeling study was carried out to evaluate the performance of UASB reactors treating poultry manure wastewater under different organic and hydraulic loading conditions. Two identical pilot scale up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors (15.7 L) were run at mesophilic conditions (30-35 degrees C) in a temperature-controlled environment with three hydraulic retention times (theta) of 15.7, 12 and 8.0 days. Imposed volumetric organic loading rates (L(V)) ranged from 0.65 to 4.257 kg COD/(m(3) day). The pH of the feed varied between 6.68 and 7.82. The hydraulic loading rates (L(H)) were controlled between 0.105 and 0.21 m(3)/(m(2)day). The daily biogas production rates ranged between 4.2 and 29.4 L/day. High volumetric COD removal rates (R(V)) ranging from 0.546 to 3.779 kg COD(removed)/(m(3)day) were achieved. On the basis of experimental results, two empirical models having a satisfactory correlation coefficient of about 0.9954 and 0.9416 were developed to predict daily biogas production (Q(g)) and effluent COD concentration (S(e)), respectively. Findings of this modeling study showed that optimal COD removals ranging from 86.3% to 90.6% were predicted with HRTs of 7.9, 9.5, 11.2, 12.6, 13.7 and 14.3 days, and L(V) of 1.27, 1.58, 1.78, 1.99, 2.20 and 2.45 kg COD/(m(3)day) for the corresponding influent substrate concentrations (S(i)) of 10,000, 15,000, 20,000, 25,000, 30,000 and 35,000 mg/L, respectively.

The applicability of Fenton's oxidation as an advanced treatment for chemical oxygen demand (COD) and color removal from anaerobically treated poultry manure wastewater was investigated. The raw poultry manure wastewater, having a pH of 7.30 (+/-0.2) and a total COD of 12,100 (+/-910) mg/L was first treated in a 15.7 L of pilot-scale up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor. The UASB reactor was operated for 72 days at mesophilic conditions (32+/-2 degrees C) in a temperature-controlled environment with three different hydraulic retention times (HRT) of 15.7, 12 and 8.0 days, and with organic loading rates (OLR) between 0.650 and 1.783 kg COD/(m3day). Under 8.0 days of HRT, the UASB process showed a remarkable performance on total COD removal with a treatment efficiency of 90.7% at the day of 63. The anaerobically treated poultry manure wastewater was further treated by Fenton's oxidation process using Fe2+ and H2O2 solutions. Batch tests were conducted on the UASB effluent samples to determine the optimum operating conditions including initial pH, effects of H2O2 and Fe2+ dosages, and the ratio of H2O2/Fe2+. Preliminary tests conducted with the dosages of 100 mg Fe2+/L and 200 mg H2O2/L showed that optimal initial pH was 3.0 for both COD and color removal from the UASB effluent. On the basis of preliminary test results, effects of increasing dosages of Fe2+ and H2O2 were investigated. Under the condition of 400 mg Fe2+/L and 200 mg H2O2/L, removal efficiencies of residual COD and color were 88.7% and 80.9%, respectively. Under the subsequent condition of 100 mg Fe2+/L and 1200 mg H2O2/L, 95% of residual COD and 95.7% of residual color were removed from the UASB effluent. Results of this experimental study obviously indicated that nearly 99.3% of COD of raw poultry manure wastewater could be effectively removed by a UASB process followed by Fenton's oxidation technology used as a post-treatment unit.