Wastewater Contaminant Degradation By Persulfate Activation with Nzvi Composites

The United States poultry industry produced 8.54 billion chickens and 238 million turkeys in 2014.¹ With a typical processing facility estimated to utilize 9 gallons of water per chicken and roughly 30 gallons per turkey, the wastewater for 2014 alone amounts to 76.9 billion and 7.14 billion gallons of wastewater for chickens and turkeys, respectively.² To remove contaminants from wastewater and satisfy the regulations of the Clean Water Act, poultry processors employ wastewater treatment processes. However, biological and organic contaminant levels can vary depending on the facility and the efficiency of the treatment processes used, influencing the amount of contaminants expelled into the environment. Implementing a process that degrades organic contaminants in wastewater onsite would be economically beneficial for the poultry industry. Supported nanoscale zerovalent iron (nZVI) composites activated by persulfate have shown promise in degrading organic contaminants in wastewater.³ Because of the large surface area of the composite components and the reactivity of nZVI, nZVI composites are ideal for activation of persulfate due to increased generation of sulfate radicals.³ These sulfate radicals are necessary to enhance and accelerate the degradation of organic contaminants.³ In this study, we will show our continued work in developing persulfate activated nZVI composites and the implementation of these composites to degrade site-specific poultry contaminants. In particular, we will discuss the role of changing mass ratios of nZVI on a support material on persulfate activation through batch reactor experiments where chemical oxygen demand (COD) analysis and spectrophotometry are used to assess the degradation of contaminants by the synthesized composites.

1. USDA Poultry Production Data. In National Agricultural Statistics Service: 2015.
2. Process Overview. In Wastewater Treatment Manual Poultry Processing Facilities U.S. Poultry & Egg Association.

3. Yan, J.; Han, L.; Gao, W.; Xue, S.; Chen, M., Biochar supported nanoscale zerovalent iron composite used as persulfate activator for removing trichloroethylene. Bioresour Technol 2015, 175, 269-74.