Life cycle environmental impact assessment of slaughterhouse wastewater treatment

Slaughterhouses are significant industrial water users, ranking second highest in the livestock processing sector, and a potential pollution source for water bodies due to effluent discharge. This paper uses the wastewater composition of an actual slaughterhouse and models three alternative scenarios for the wastewater management; no treatment and discharge, primary treatment and discharge, and tertiary treatment followed by partial water reuse. All three scenarios are assessed in terms of their environmental performance following a Life Cycle Assessment, by using the Environmental Footprint 3.0 method. The results revealed that the best scenario for the slaughterhouse wastewater treatment is the third scenario with an overall footprint of 0.255 milliEcopoints (mPt), compared to 2.45 mPt and 1.31 mPt of the first and the second scenario, respectively.

Automated summary

Slaughterhouses are significant industrial water users and potential pollution sources for water bodies. This paper studies the wastewater treatment of a slaughterhouse and compares three scenarios for environmental performance, revealing that the best scenario is tertiary treatment followed by partial water reuse.