Treatment of Dairy Waste
by Aeration
I. Methods of Study*
Nandor Porges and Sam R. Hoover §
Chemists
Eastern Regional Research Laboratory!
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The Dairy Waste and Disposal Committee of the Dairy Industry
Committee recently requested the Bureau of Agricultural and Indus¬
trial Chemistry to study certain phases of the disposal of dairy waste.
The problem was assigned to the Eastern Regional Research Labora¬
tory, which is investigating utilization of milk by-products.
Although the problem of dairy-waste disposal was apparently solved
some years ago, there has been a resurgence of its importance because
of increasing pressure from farmers, sportsmen, and others interested
in clean streams and enforcement of stream-pollution laws. Recent
contributions by such investigators as Bloodgood (2),% Eldridge (3),
and Trebler and Harding (16) emphasize the high oxygen demand
of such wastes and the need for further study of this problem. That
dairy waste is an important cause of stream pollution is indicated in the
Report of the Ohio River Committee, which devotes a section to
this subject (12). In the more recent report of the Kansas River
Basin Water Pollution Investigation (11), it is noted that of the
277 industrial establishments surveyed, 121 were concerned with milk.
Agar believe that as much as one-third of the stream pollution in
New York is due to dairy wastes (1). These figures reflect the scat¬
tering of the dairy industry, the small size of each plant, and the
inability of the various plants to treat the wastes satisfactorily.
The waste from a plant practicing good housekeeping may contain
one percent milk.   As the composition of such waste   (which is low
• Report of a study made under the Research and Marketing Act of 1946.
§ With the technical assistance of Janet B. Pepinsky and Nancy C Hendler.
tOne of the laboratories of the Bureau of Agricultural and Industrial
Chemistry, Agricultural Research Administration, U. S. Department of Agri¬
culture.
^Italicized figures in parentheses refer to entries in the Bibliography,
page 135.
130