Client Profile + THe Problem

Tackling A High Calorific Wastestream

We worked with one of Australia’s largest meat rendering plants, to extract value from slaughterhouse waste and stop it from going to the environment. The products are used in nutritional supplements, intensive agriculture and as fish food used by fish farms.

The plant produces large volumes of concentrated wastewater that has to be treated before discharge to tradewaste. The existing treatment process on site comprises of a dissolved air floatation treatment process to reduce the solids concentration and organic load in the discharged wastetream. Given the high strength wastestream, additional treatment is required to further reduce the bio-load.

THE AKVOTEK SOLUTION

Reduced Operating Costs & Improved Carbon Footprint

Akvotek have run a detailed study and extended pilot trial on the manufacturer’s site under different operating conditions. The data collected is being used as the design basis for the full-scale turnkey solution for site.

Akvotek’s solution will include a high-efficiency anaerobic digester (AD) as a first treatment stage to reduce the high organic load and produce biogas from the high calorific waste stream. The manufacturer is a large consumer of natural gas and the AD process will help offset total consumption by 20% offering substantial savings amidst escalating gas prices. The small volume of sludge produced by the AD will go into decanters to produce a semi-dry sludge that can be composted.

The solution will include an Akvotek Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) downstream of the AD. The size and running costs of the MBR will be significantly smaller because of the AD that consumes approximately 85% of the bio-load.

The MBR treated water will be further polished by a RO stage for re-use in boilers on site reducing site’s freshwater intake by up to 80%.

In addition to improving the manufacturer’s carbon footprint, after adjusting for operating costs, Akvotek’s solution will offer a 2.5 year ROI from reduced discharge costs, fresh water and gas consumption.

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