The Australian red meat processing industry is a significant consumer of fresh water and a high producer of wastewater. Drought and resulting water restrictions cause enormous pressure on processing plants to reduce water consumption. Along with restrictions, costs around wastewater disposal makes it essential for businesses in this industry to carefully choose their wastewater treatment options. At Enviro Concepts, we understand the requirements of treating abattoir effluent and the need for a cost-effective water treatment and filtration system.
Wastewater Quality
Management of wastewater from the Australian red meat processing industry is an important issue. Due to the specific characteristics of abattoir wastewater, irregular discharge and considerable organic and biogenic loading, it can be difficult and costly to treat. The organic loading rate of wastewater from the red meat processing industry can be several times higher than the average domestic sewage.
Also, it is well known that its high content of fat, oil and grease (FOG) is another issue that makes the treatment process much more difficult.
Wastewater Treatment
The wash down processes produce significant volumes of abattoir wastewater but the high contaminant levels and salt levels often pose a challenge in reusing the wastewater for irrigation and other purposes. The cost implications increase as we go from avoiding creating trade waste to recycling it for reuse. However, businesses cannot always ensure minimising wastewater so 3 points need to be kept in mind:
- A waste water treatment system helps remove pollutants and increase options for reuse. It provides savings for waste water filtration and has a longer return on investment (less than 5 years)
- Reviewing processes that use salt for opportunities to reduce salt usage can provide treated waste water suited for irrigation. Once again, there are cost savings in water treatment and wastewater disposal, almost immediately.
- Recovery of solid wastes from the onsite waste water treatment processes for use in composting can also help in waste saving. The process can be done through a Dissolved Air Flotation System. This saves costs in water disposal and there are high returns long term with this system (less than 5 years)
Enviro Concepts Water Treatment Systems
The suitability and benefits of each option depends on the options mentioned above and the nature and size of the business. Enviro Concepts can build both water treatment discharge and recycling systems. Our containerised or skid mounted treatment plants can be set up effortlessly in any location very quickly and it can be configured to treatment required for wastewater management of the facility. Our systems combine physical, chemical and biological purification, providing the level of treatment needed, depending on the final usage of the treated wastewater.
To explore your wastewater treatment needs, connect with us here.