Transforming poultry wastewater into renewable resources

Tyson Foods River Valley Animal Foods in Scranton, Arkansas, underscores environmental stewardship through its capture of the final poultry protein meals and fat commodities. Because of this RVAF received the 2017 U.S. Poultry & Egg Association Clean Water Award for the full treatment category.

River Valley Animal Foods treats 800,000 gallons of wastewater daily. | Image courtesy of River Valley Animal Foods
River Valley Animal Foods treats 800,000 gallons of wastewater daily. | Image courtesy of River Valley Animal Foods

Tyson Foods River Valley Animal Foods (RVAF) in Scranton, Arkansas, underscores environmental stewardship through its capture of the final poultry protein meals and fat commodities. Because of this RVAF received the 2017 U.S. Poultry & Egg Association Clean Water Award for the full treatment category.

RVAF is responsible for the beneficial reuse of offal, feathers and blood received from 20 locations ranging from 20 to 200 miles away. The facility’s products are used as ingredients in animal foods and feed meal blends by its customers, with recent new locations including southeastern Asia. While typically more than 60 percent of raw materials received are converted into finished products, the cooking, pressing and drying processes also generate a large volume of water that would create a significant environmental problem without advanced treatment.

RVAF’s 2017 Clean Water Award immediately follows its unprecedented, three consecutive years of recognition as a semifinalist. Consequently, for four years RVAF received recognition as one of the elite poultry wastewater treatment facilities operated by poultry companies and allied industries.

As a full treatment facility, RVAF reclaims a daily average of 750,000 gallons of wastewater generated from its finished products prior to discharge into the Arkansas River. RVAF continues to rely on its unique treatment system, upgraded starting in 2009, to consistently comply with all Arkansas state permit and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Effluent Limit Guidelines (ELG). The federal limits focus on achieving new monthly average and daily maximum nitrogen discharge totals.

To meet the new requirements, RVAF’s environmental team and management selected a design converting the existing, one-stage oxidation ditch into a four-stage Bardenpho system upgraded within the same footprint. The ideal, but more expensive, solution included additional basins that would have provided a greater tolerance for any process upsets.

Although that decision placed tremendous responsibility on the wastewater operations team, RVAF easily exceeded the award criteria calling for at least two years of no significant non-compliances, notices of violations or any other type of enforcement action. Regional environmental manager, Dana Pierce, recalls, “We knew operator training would be key as well as making this a focus for all team members working at River Valley.”

RVAF now enjoys combined total nitrogen and biological phosphorus removal.

The replaced oxidation ditch relied on a biological process called nitrification to convert ammonia to nitrate while removing carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand (CBOD). When operated properly, it effectively tackled both ammonia and CBOD. The upgrade provides the nitrate removal the new permit targeting total nitrogen calls for, but also positions RVAF for phosphorus removal if and when required. The reclaimed water undergoes ultraviolet light disinfection, chlorination/dechlorination and cascade aeration before discharge.

Karalea Wells, the complex environmental manager, said two incoming wastewater streams are initially managed separately to optimize performance.

“We use equalization basin No. 1 to feed our DAF, or dissolved air flotation unit,” Wells said. “With our polymer system, the DAF captures both solids and fats, oil and grease which we haul back to the plant for use with our feed grade products. The DAF wastewater is aerated in a second equalization basin.”

“We give team members at the plant an overview of wastewater to inform them of the importance of fat reclamation,” Pierce said. “After we started annual training for plant team members years ago, the DAF sludge reduction was evident at wastewater.”

The second stream is primarily warmer to hot boiler condensate, scrubber and cooling tower bleeds, and cooked process waters that are aerated for cooling and then processed through an anaerobic lagoon. Both streams are ultimately sent to the four-stage Bardenpho nitrification denitrification process. The entire process operates with under a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system.

In terms of reclaimed wastewater, RVAF exceeds its total nitrogen limits by 96 percent. The finished products facility reuses approximately 220,000 gallons per day or about 80 million gallons per year of the reclaimed water for plant wash down, pump shaft packing gland water seals as well as hydrolyzer packing glands for hydrogen sulfide reductions in the workplace.

Reuse water is also being used for a recently installed blood dryer, displacing approximately 40 million gallons a year of potable water otherwise used for flushing the system as well as rinsing and charging evaporators and preheaters.

Continuing efforts at RVAF and beyond

RVAF excels beyond reclaimed water quality treatment and reuse with an active commitment to protecting the environment. Ongoing efforts over the course of RVAF’s recognition as an elite Clean Water Award facility include:

  • Actively managing the reuse or recycling of traditional items such as cardboard, pallets, aluminum, used oil and filters, batteries, lightbulbs and electronics.
  • Cutting and baling of grasses for hay by a local farmer, with proceeds donated to the local school district’s Future Farmers of America.
  • Redirecting all out-of-spec materials (about 255.6 tons since October 2015) from the landfill, yielding a useable product via composting facility benefitting the local economy.
  • Exceeding general permit storm water benchmarks using a system of storm water settling ponds developed in collaboration with Arkansas Tech University students who selected and planted native flora also serving as a natural habitat.

The RVAF team didn’t rest on its laurels after receiving its 2016 Clean Water Award recognition. Bat houses built by local FFA high school students were placed on buildings to address flying insects.

Once the bat houses are inhabited, we will participate in summer surveys and submit data to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission bat coordinator,” Wells said.

The RVAF team is also working to identify recycling options for disposing of plastic films contaminated by raw materials.

“We are working to develop a program during the next 12 months that we anticipate will to significantly lower our annual refuse totals,” Wells said.

RVAF continues to widely support the local community and various charitable organizations. The management group builds bicycles for children in need during the holiday season. Tyson Foods, the facility’s corporate parent, provided more than $300,000 in grants to local Scranton area schools and communities for computers, a new pavilion serving as an emergency refuge, and a grant to the Tyson Career Center in Paris, Arkansas, for high school students and unemployed adults seeking career training.

In keeping with the spirit of the Clean Water Award, Tyson RVAF recently contributed to the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission’s Land Stewardship Program. The donation provided funding to support 150 acres of a natural area in the state. RVAF consistently discharges clean water and maintains an ethos of constantly evolving environmental protection, stewardship and community, making it the 2017 Clean Water Award full treatment category’s standard bearer.

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