Food and beverage wastewater technologies

60% savings on disposal

Environmental technologies available in Australia have been used by one of the UK’s major independent beef and lamb producers to achieve net savings of 60% on wastewater disposal.

The Jaspers company was spending around £100,000 pa (more than AU$200,000) on the disposal of its wastewater prior to the installation of an Eimco Water Technologies MBR (membrane bioreactor).

But, just four months after installing the MBR technology, 60% of the treated wastewater effluent at its beef plant in Treburley is being re-used for low-grade re-use applications, while at its lamb abattoir in Botathan, the water re-use figure was in excess of 60%.

Working in close consultation with Jaspers, Eimco Water Technologies selected its MBR system to treat the low-flow, high-strength wastewater stream at the Treburley and Botathan sites.

The simple, low-cost, low-maintenance MBR system, incorporating flat sheet membrane panels, provided Jaspers with an almost immediate cost-effective solution to the treatment of their effluent.

The final effluent quality from the plant has far exceeded original expectations with the BOD (biological oxygen demand), TSS (total suspended solids) and NH₄N (ammonia) concentrations all less than 10 mg/L and often less than the limits of laboratory detection.

The influent wastewater is screened by a 3 mm perforated plate automatic screen. From the screen the wastewater enters the MBR treatment tank where the mixed liquor activated sludge degrades the COD (chemical oxygen demand). The MBR treatment tank contains flat-sheet membrane panels that separate the treated effluent from the mixed liquor-activated sludge. The membranes also remove bacteria and viruses from the treated water.

Because of the high influent COD load, the MBR treatment tank incorporates a fine bubble diffuser air zone to ensure that oxygen is transferred efficiently to the mixed liquor-activated sludge. The treated effluent from the MBR plant is stored prior to re-use. The high-quality permeate that is not re-used is discharged to a local watercourse.