Meat processing plant reduces its environmental impact

Pennsylvania-based meat processing and packaging company Nicholas Meat plans to reduce its environmental impact by installing Global Water & Energy’s (GW&E) industrial wastewater treatment system and waste-to-energy technology.

GW&E’s MEMBROX aerobic membrane bioreactor technology and RAPTOR system will enable Nicholas Meats to upgrade its management of liquid and solid wastes generated in its facility, and improve its environmental footprint.

The MEMBROX wastewater treatment plant aims to reduce the company’s impact on the local community by eliminating odours from the existing storage of wastewater, and reducing truck traffic at the facility. According to GW&E, it will generate an effluent of sufficient quality for stream discharge, as well as for a variety of potential re-use functions, such as irrigation, and multiple forms of recycled water use within the actual factory footprint. This will reduce its impact on the local aquifer.

RAPTOR (Rapid Transformation of Organic Residues) is a pretreatment-enhanced form of anaerobic digestion, and this part of the plant is designed to turn organic substances into green energy in the form of biogas. This is used to replace fossil fuels at food and beverage plants globally, including dairy, brewery and municipal waste-to energy plants.

GWE’s RAPTOR process. For a larger image, click here.

“You don’t need to be a big company to benefit from this technology. Paunch and manure are rich in biogas and are often just left for composting or land disposal in Australia and New Zealand, when that biogas could be a source of ongoing profits instead,” said Michael Bambridge, Managing Director, CST Wastewater Solutions.

“Utilising the residuals from production as a resource, rather than treating them as wastes, will generate significant value for the Nicholas Meat plant as well as the surrounding community, and will help to transform Nicholas Meat into a truly ‘green’ company and reduce their dependence on fossil fuels,” he continued.

RAPTOR technology — developed by Global Water Engineering, the parent company of GW&E — was recognised by the Institute of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), winning the global green energy award in 2014.

GW&E Vice President Ian Page described it as “world-class” and stated, “The standards of environmental protection — and reduction of environmental footprint specified by Nicholas Meat — are a credit to the company as an efficient, sustainable and overall good corporate citizen.”

The facilities are scheduled to be completed this year.

Top image: GW&E RAPTOR organic waste-to-energy system in Puerto Rico, similar to the one being installed at Nicholas Meat.