Food Manufacturer Solves TSS & BOD Wastewater Problem

Problem: A Midwest food manufacturer expanded operation to incorporate a children's snack product line. The production wash water exceeded city sewer Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Total Suspended Solids (TSS) discharge limits. This Midwest WWTP enforced a 300 ppm limit with no surcharge. The TSS limit was also non-negotiable.

ALAR Engineering was contacted to help design and build a wastewater treatment system that would achieve maximum productivity with minimum effort and expense. ALAR also performed a battery of bench-scale tests on a variety of samples. The bench tests were successful and this Midwest food manufacturer decided to rent an ALAR Auto-Vac® rotary vacuum drum filter and run a full-scale pilot test in the field. The Auto-Vac® removed 99% of the TSS and 85% of the BOD.

Solution: The result was a two-step process:

Step 1: Remove the suspended solids using the Auto-Vac® Rotary Vacuum Drum Filter

Step 2: Send the filtrate (clean water) to a Moving Bed Biological Reactor (MBBR) that uses microorganisms to consume organic material. Combining the Auto-Vac® and MBBR technologies resulted in safe water discharge compliance for this company in the food manufacturing industry.