This presentation by Xinjuan Hu, a graduate student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, was presented at the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute’s Research Forum on Thursday, May 11, 2017. Xinjuan is a 2016-2017 student support grantee of the Institute.

1. Microalgae Treatment of Meat Processing Wastewater for
Nutrient Removal and Water Reconditioning
Reported by: Xinjuan Hu
Dr. Jayne Stratton
Dr. Yulie Meneses

2. CONTENT
1. Importance of water in meat processing
2. Water utilization in meat processing
3. Potential and challenges of microalgae treatment
4. Research activities and outcome
5. Next steps

3. 1.Importance of water in meat processing
Figure 1. Freshwater consumption in beverage and food industry (Ciro et al., 2015)
Meat processing
24%
Beverage
13%
Dairy
12%
Other food
11%
Fruits and
vegetables
10%
Bakery and tortilla
products
9%
Grain and oilseeds
9%
Sugar and
confectionary
5%
Animal food
5%
Sea food
2%
62Mm3 water are consumed
worldwide annualy and 89% of
this water becomes highly
polluted wastewater by oil &
grease, protein, sanitizer, metal,
N,P

4. • Money paid:
• Money lost: nutrients in meat processing wastewater like the
protein and organic compounds could be recovered and used by
microorganisms to produce biogas, bioplastic, enzyme, etc.
1. Importance of water in meat processing
More money paid
high volumes of wastewater
strong pollutants in wastewater
stricter regulationMeat processor

5. 2. Water utilization in meat processing
antimicrobial
interventions
16%
viscera
processing
39%
cleaning
39%
unmetered
6%
Figure 3.Percentage water use among operation in a typical
hog slaughterhouse(Banks et al., 2006)
Figure 2. Percentage water use between operation
in a beef packaging plant (Ziara et al., 2016)
(Ziara et al., 2016)

6. 3. Potential and challenges of microalgae treatment
Inevitably, wastewater treatment and recycling must be incorporated with algae
biofuel production”---US Department of Energy
+wastewater
Nutrients removal
Reconditioned water
Accumulation of lipid,
protein in microalgae
Biodiesel
Feedstock, fertilizer,
bio-plastic, etc.
Biotic contamination
caused by bacteria,
fungi, zooplankton
Inhibition of microalgae growth due
to high nutrient concentration in
wastewater
Unstable wastewater quality

7. 4. Research activities and outcome
4.1 Wastewater characterization
Table 1. Wastewater quality characteristics
Note: “LA” lactic acid sterilization, ”PA pre-wash, “CA” carcass wash.
CA PA LA
Parameter Unit CA PA LA
Ammonia nitrogen mg/L ND 5.8 ND
BOD mg/L 860 880 14,360
COD mg/L 900 1,288 19,580
Nitrate/Nitrite nitrogen mg/L 3.0 2.8 205
Total Kjeldahl nitrogen(TKN) mg/L 27 50 135
TSS mg/L 110 72 252
TP mg/L 40.5 1.88 10.8
pH 4.14 4.38 2.28

8. 4.2 Microalgae screening
Species
number
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Genus
Chlamydomonas Chlorella Chlorella Chlorella Chlorella Scenedesmus Chlorella
Species
reinharttii protothecoides zofingiensis Sp. protothecoides obliquus vulgaris
Table 2. Microalgae species
1-BBM 1-TAP

9. 6.5
7
7.5
8
8.5
9
9.5
10
10.5
11
11.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
pH
cultivation time/ day
species 1
species 3
species 5
species 6
species 7
6.5
7
7.5
8
8.5
9
9.5
10
10.5
11
11.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
pH
cultivation time/day
species 1
species 3
species 5
species 6
species 7
WW:Water=25:75
Change of pH in three wastewater types
PA CA LA
PA
LA
CA
6.5
7
7.5
8
8.5
9
9.5
10
10.5
11
11.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
pH
cultivation time/day.
species 1
species 3
species 5
species 6
species 7

10. Changes in biomass concentration
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
species 1 species 3 species 5 species 6 species 7
Biomass/g/L
MG species
day 4
PA CA LA
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
species 1 species 3 species 5 species 6 species 7
Biomass/g/L
MG species
day 5
PA CA LA

11. 5. Next steps
1. Additional dilution proportions (50%,75%,100%) will be
used to screen for microalgae species with best growth
performance and water recondition effect
2. Effect of combination of diverse wastewater sources on
microalgae growth and wastewater treatment
3. Comparison of wastewater quality characteristic before and
after the microbial reduction treatment (ozone, NaClO,
autoclave) will be conducted to design an approachable method
for large scale microalgae treatment of wastewater

12. Acknowledgement
• Dr. Jayne Stratton
• Dr. Yulie Menese
• Dr. Bruce Dvorack
• Dr. Paul Black
• Rami Ziara
• Mark Behrens
• Carly Rain Adams

13. Thanks !