Wehrle Environmental UK are pleased to announce they have received an order to fully upgrade the wastewater treatment system at United Biscuit’s KP Nuts factory at Billingham, Northumbria, UK. The upgrade will involve the installation of a membrane bioreactor (MBR) system, which is recognised as best available technology (BAT) for enabling reduced water usage on site.
United Biscuits are committed to achieving environmental sustainability across the whole range of their business activities. At the beginning of 2008, they launched a new set of specific objectives to help their business operate more sustainably. These included introducing stringent targets linked to a range of market-leading initiatives including reducing carbon emissions and energy use, reducing water consumption, and reducing the amount of waste produced.
Implementation of these targets lead to the involvement of Wehrle and the development of their process solution to reduce water required and wastewater produced at Billingham.
When United Biscuits initially realised the environmental benefits of re-using water they invested in tertiary treatment facilities. They had plans to recycle some of their treated water for selected 'low-risk' process water applications. The technology initially installed was based on dynamic self-cleaning sand filtration, activated carbon and disinfection with chlorination and UV.
With major advances in wastewater treatment technology over recent years, United Biscuits wanted to make sure they had BAT for treatment of their wastewater, so a consistently high treated water quality could be guaranteed. Hence, they decided that an upgrade to their existing tertiary treatment equipment was required.
A thorough analysis of wastewater volumes and composition on site enabled United Biscuits to evaluate new technologies that would enable them to significantly reduce the environmental impact of the KP Nuts brand. After extensive technology research and discussions with Wehrle’s engineers, they decided to incorporate MBR technology within their wastewater treatment process. MBR technology, provided by Wehrle and based on using the ultrafiltration (UF) membrane, is recognised as BAT across a wide range of industrial wastewater treatment applications.
Wehrle won the contract to supply an MBR system by showing they could design and build the MBR to become an integral part of the existing wastewater treatment infrastructure on site. By undertaking feasibility studies and pilot trials Wehrle demonstrated they could optimise the overall process to produce treated water of exceptionally high quality, suitable for re-use as process water on site.
Wehrle will include a dissolved air flotation (DAF) system, to provide pre-treatment and removal of gross suspended solids, and an MBR treatment system as part of the upgrade solution. The DAF and MBR system will treat an input of 2400 cubic metres per day. MBR treated water will have zero suspended solids and a chemical oxygen demand (COD) of less than 100 mg/l.
The site already operates comprehensive wastewater treatment facilities. This includes the environmental benefit of separation and recovery of potato starch for animal feed. The existing process includes influent screening, primary settlement and biological treatment, using a large bio-tower complete with secondary settlement. Treated effluent is currently discharged to sewer for subsequent treatment by Northumbrian Water to meet environmental quality standards prior to river discharge.
United Biscuits decided to work with Wehrle because of their unrivalled international expertise across of range of waste and wastewater treatment applications, but also because of the highly effective and collaborative approach demonstrated by Wehrle’s UK team. Undertaking feasibility studies and pilot trials, designing the new technology required, and showing how existing equipment could be re-used and optimised, enabled Wehrle’s engineers to minimise project costs and installation time.
Membranes, control systems and the motor control centre components of the MBR system will be provided by Wehrle pre-assembled and tested in a standard ISO container. This reduces further installation and commissioning time, allowing the upgraded process to be operational as soon as possible.
Wehrle is responsible for designing the treatment plant, managing the upgrades and optimising existing equipment, delivering all technical components, installing, commissioning and operating the equipment. Work on the turn-key project has commenced and the upgraded facility at Billingham is due to open in the summer of 2009.
As part of the United Biscuits group, UK brand leader, KP Nuts, dominates the convenience and impulse snacks market, producing a variety of potato crisps and savoury snacks at the Billingham site. Visit www.unitedbiscuits.com for further details.
Author:
Anthony Bennett.
Please contact us for further information. |
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