The objective of this research was to design an alternative wastewater treatment system for turkey processing plants to recover energy and reduce N and P to allowable discharge levels. The objective included: 1. Determine the quantity and quality of biogas produced from the turkey processing wastewater (TPW) and COD reduction efficiency. 2. Design a waste treatment system and validate proof of concept for simultaneous P and N removal with a goal of attaining effluent concentrations of 0.1 mg/L and 4 mg/L, for P and N, respectively.

A lab-scale complete mixed anaerobic digester was used for turkey processing wastewater (TPW) digestion and biogas recovery running for 6 months. Along with the anaerobic digester, a two-sludge system called A2N-SBR consisting of an anaerobic-anoxic sequencing batch reactor and an attached growth post-nitrification reactor was added for biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal running for 3 months. Biogas production yields of 778 + 89 mL/gVSadded and 951.30 mL/g COD were obtained through anaerobic digestion. Also, an energy balance was conducted on a pilot scale digester for a turkey processing plant with wastewater production of 2160 m3/d and using a combined heat and power (CHP) enginefor conversion of biogas to heat and electricity. Although the biogas yield achieved in a complete mixed reactor was relatively lower than yields obtained in previous studies using reactors such as UASB, still a complete mixed reactor can be a good choice for biogas recovery from TPW and can be used for codigestion with some specific turkey processing byproducts for biogas recovery.

Nitrogen and phosphorus removal in the A2N-SBR system were 47% and 75%, respectively, and during the study the nitrogen and phosphorus removal mean concentration in effluent did not meet the nutrient limits specified in the objectives. Average TP and TN in the effluent were 3.2 mg/L and 137 mg/L, respectively. Throughout the study, the nitrification reactor biofilm was not completely developed. Incomplete nitrification and poor settling might be the reasons that quality obtained in effluent was low. To improve the process condition in A2N-SBR, online monitoring of pH, dissolved oxygen (DO) and oxidation reduction potential (ORP) can help to optimize each stage in the SBR and stages duration can be set based on the results.