Hydrothermal Oxidation of Waste Lipids, Protein, and Starch from New Zealand Meat- and Vegetable-Processing Plants

• Published in: Water environment research 2006-08, Vol.78 (8), p.816-820
• Main Authors: Richardson, Michael J., Johnston, James H., Northcote, Peter T.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Biochemical oxygen demand; Catalysis; Catalytic reactions; Chemical engineering; Chemical oxygen demand; Chemistry; Copper; Exact sciences and technology; Food Industry - methods; Food processing industry; food processing wastes; General and physical chemistry; General treatment and storage processes; hot water treatment; hydrothermal; Industrial waste; Industrial wastes; Lard; lipid; Lipid Metabolism; Lipids; Meat Products; Models, Biological; New Zealand; Nitrates; Oxidation; Oxidation-Reduction; Pollution; protein; proteins; Proteins - metabolism; Reactors; Research Papers; Silicates; starch; Starch - metabolism; Starches; Temperature; Theory of reactions, general kinetics. Catalysis. Nomenclature, chemical documentation, computer chemistry; Vegetables - metabolism; Waste Disposal, Fluid - methods; Wastes; wastewater treatment; Water treatment; wet oxidation
• ISSN: 1061-4303; 1554-7531
• DOI: 10.2175/106143006X101692

Disposal of organic waste materials from the meat- and vegetable-processing industries historically has been undertaken by dumping, drying followed by combustion, or biological oxidation. As a result of higher intensity processing rates and increasingly stringent legislation, these are no longer economical. Hydrothermal oxidation, also referred to as "wet" oxidation, has been used to lower the chemical and biological oxygen demand of waste samples from the above two industries. The starch-based wastes were readily oxidized without a catalyst. For the lipid and protein-based wastes, the use of copper calcium silicate and nitrate catalysts provided a significant reduction in oxygen demand at 230°C.