ABSTRACT
The nature of the organic matter of cannery industry wastewater makes them suitable for biological treatment, specially because they rarely present toxicant or inhibitory compounds in their composition. In fact, preparation and operations for processing animal and vegetable raw materials into edible products scarcely make use of chemicals. Thus, wastewater characteristics are mainly related to the nature of the organic matter processed. Normally, the only operations which necessarily use chemicals are the cleaning and sterilization of equipment, floors, and walls. The use of disinfectants and caustic soda at the end of each working cycle results in short-time concentrated discharges, and may lead to operational problems for those wastewater treatment plants which are not protected against shock-loads. However, flow equalization and influent pH control normally have enough diluting and neutralizing effect to permit the use of biological processes for cannery wastewater treatment.
