BHJ USA in St. Joseph, MO is a processor of meat and meat byproducts for the pet food industry. They operate 24/7 and generate wastewater the entire day. The wastewater contains levels of fats, oils, greases, and total suspended solids in excess of the levels permitted to be discharged to the municipal sewer in St. Joseph. Therefore, in order to operate the plant, they needed a waste water treatment system to reduce these levels.
BHJ had many years of experience with Kemco Systems in another of their plants and decided to enter into discussions with them about their new plant. Together they evaluated BHJ's needs and the decision was made to utilize a DAF (Dissolved Air Flotation System) as the main treatment process. The DAF is supplemented by a rotary screen to remove large solids prior to the DAF. The action of the DAF is supplemented by coagulating and flocculating chemicals supplied by a local vendor. Kemco also supplied a 5.5 million btu/hr., On-Demand, 99.7% efficient water heater to meet the facility's hot water needs. In conjunction with BHJ and BHJ's mechanical contractor Kemco's Engineering Department did all the piping, electrical, and mechanical design for the heater and waste water treatment equipment.
Could we treat a high strength dairy waste that was not treatable using conventional Dissolved Air Flotation? A waste that was generated by the cleaning of dairy evaporators and dryers and other process equipment. The waste was very high in COD and TSS – so high it was being hauled to an off-site disposal facility. Everyday. At great expense.
The consultant was risking his reputation and a 20-year relationship with this prominent dairy cooperative to bring in Kemco. This dairy has a knack for "going green" and they wanted to further their sustainability efforts by eliminating or minimizing a persistent waste stream, converting it into a reusable and beneficial condition.
After conducting bench and pilot tests, Kemco designed and built a system to remove the butter fats, milk proteins and other solids using a ceramic microfiltration system (CMF); to follow that, a reverse osmosis (RO) system was built to remove the dissolved contaminants – glucose, lactose, milk salts and detergents.
The full scale system was installed at the dairy in September 2015. The dairy operators were trained to operate and maintain the system, and the results followed.
The treated water is good enough to reuse, supplying water to the plant's belt spray system.
The treated water no longer has to be hauled off-site for disposal.
Lots of money is being saved!
Contact us if you want to learn what we can do for your waste water concerns.