Emerging chemical and biotechnological approaches for sustainable treatment of food industrial wastewater and resource valorization: a review

Abstract

Food industrial wastewater (FIWW) is a high‐strength and compositionally complex effluent generated from dairy, meat, beverage, fruit and vegetable, and agro‐processing industries. Characterized by high concentrations of organic matter (COD: 1000–6000 mg L −1 ; BOD: 600–4000 mg L −1 ), nutrients, oils, greases, and suspended solids, FIWW poses significant environmental and operational challenges to conventional treatment systems. This review critically evaluates recent advances in sustainable FIWW treatment technologies, emphasizing treatment efficiency, energy requirements, resource recovery potential, and environmental performance. Biological processes, including activated sludge, anaerobic digestion, and membrane bioreactors, achieve 80–95% removal of organic pollutants, while anaerobic digestion additionally enables biogas production with methane contents of 55–75%. Physicochemical and advanced oxidation processes demonstrate pollutant removal efficiencies exceeding 90% for recalcitrant contaminants but remain constrained by high operational and energy costs. Nature‐based systems, including constructed wetlands and algal‐based treatments, can remove up to 90% of nutrients and achieve nitrogen removal efficiencies of 70–97%, offering low‐energy alternatives for decentralized applications. Comparative analysis indicates that no single treatment technology can effectively address the complexity and variability of FIWW, highlighting the growing importance of integrated and hybrid systems that combine complementary treatment mechanisms. These systems frequently achieve overall pollutant removal efficiencies above 95% while facilitating resource recovery through energy generation, nutrient recycling, water reuse, and value‐added bioproduct production within a circular bioeconomy framework. Despite significant technological progress, challenges related to process integration, scalability, techno‐economic feasibility, and regulatory compliance continue to hinder large‐scale implementation. Future research should focus on intelligent process optimization, life‐cycle assessment, digital monitoring, and resource valorization strategies to accelerate the transition toward sustainable and circular FIWW management. © 2026 Society of Chemical Industry (SCI).