Crust management for optimal anaerobic digestion performance at meat processing facilities

The successful design and operation of covered anaerobic lagoons (CALs) are highly sensitive to the inclusion of fats, oils and greases (FOGs) in the effluent stream entering the lagoons.

While anaerobic digestion is effective for the degradation of many feedstocks, the high levels of FOGs and total solids in abattoir waste water present challenges.

This project was undertaken to determine the effects of different fat levels in abattoir effluent on anaerobic digestion to address a lack of basic data on the performance of anaerobic treatment of wastewater from Australian meat processing plants.