Wastewater treatment for winemaker

Helen’s Hill Estate, producer of Helen’s Hill Wines and Ingram Road Wines, is located in the picturesque Yarra Valley. The company’s winemaking process generates high-strength wastewater, requiring robust and highly efficient treatment.

In planning for increased production to keep up with ever-increasing demand, Helen’s Hill Wines realised its existing trickling filter system could not cope and that an upgrade was necessary. The company turned to wastewater treatment company Hydroflux Industrial for the design and supply of a new wastewater treatment plant.

Utilising the latest Australian technology, Hydroflux is supplying its HySMART SBR system, including AEROSTRIP Fine Bubble Diffuser technology, to provide a robust, compact and sustainable low-energy solution for the high-strength waste. The sustainability advantages of the system made the choice easy for Helen’s Hill.

“The HySMART system showcases the sustainability of energy efficiency in aerobic reactors,” said Mitchell Hastings, Hydroflux’s Victorian manager. “The HySMART SBR system uses about 40% of the energy that conventional SBR systems need to treat this type of wastewater.”

The system is based on a modular, deployable system, making it simple to install on-site. Hastings noted, “The modular design means Helen’s Hill can double the plant capacity in future, simply by installing a second reactor.”

The wastewater plant also includes a control system with HyCONNECT. The remote access provided by HyCONNECT allows Hydroflux specialists and Helen’s Hill staff to remotely monitor the plant with minimal operator input.

Pictured: The Helen’s Hill vineyard.