Treatment of low-contaminated waste water from the food industry to produce water of drinking quality for reuse

The treatment of low-contaminated waste water from the meat processing industry was studied with the objective of producing water of drinking quality for reuse. A demonstration plant with a capacity of up to 2 m 3/h was built based on our experiments to compare different treatment processes for the removal of suspended particles, dissolved inorganics, undissolved and dissolved organics and micro-organisms contained in the waste water and which exceed the limit for drinking water. The demonstration plant consists of water pretreatment (sedimentation with fat skimming, cartridge filtration and UV disinfection), nanofiltration and post-treatment (UV oxidation and UV disinfection). The experimental results from an operating period of over 4 months showed that treated water with drinking water quality, according to the German drinking water regulations, can be produced. The applied waste water technology is now undergoing authorization procedure with the German authorities.