ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the general characteristics of food industry effluent and their treatment options, depending on the properties like primary, secondary, and tertiary. The wastewater generated by the food industry is derived directly from the processes operations, the washing facilities and equipment, storage areas, and sanitary sewage. The generated wastewater mostly contains high levels of organic matter, levels that tend to be increasingly higher due to the constant decrease in water consumption for environmental and economic reasons. Lipids require special attention among the various classes of organic matter present in effluents of the food industry. The food industry usually generates effluents with high nitrogen and phosphorous concentration, not only because of its products but also because of the sanitizers used. A. Hafez et al. reused effluent of the El-Nile Company for the food industry in Egypt, and utilized nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membrane separation techniques.
