Burra Foods halves energy cost of wastewater treatment with Hydroflux

Australian dairy ingredient processor Burra Foods recently installed a Hydroflux HyDAF dissolved air flotation (DAF) unit for primary wastewater treatment and successfully halved their energy costs. The HyDAF system, from wastewater treatment specialist Hydroflux Industrial, was chosen over several others in the market as being most capable of increasing the plant’s treatment efficiency and reducing operating costs.

According to Burra Foods Wastewater Treatment Plant Supervisor Daniel Tsivoulidis, they began to see results at the Korumburra site in the South Gippsland region of Victoria just one week after installation.

“Within a week, we were already removing so many of the solids in primary treatment that our secondary treatment sequencing batch reactors did not need as much oxygen. We immediately saw a drop in electricity costs.

“With some more fine-tuning we saw even more improvements. We reduced our energy costs by almost half and the sequencing batch reactors can now process double the volume of water,” he said.

Improving primary treatment also leads to improved secondary treatment performance, smoother processes and other benefits, according to Hydroflux Industrial Director Mathew Pugh.

“We see this time and time again. Getting the wastewater treatment right at the front end can have an incredibly positive effect for the rest of the plant, as well as significant cost savings. It’s a worthwhile investment with a fast return, as it reduces the cost of operation,” said Pugh.

Burra Foods’ HyDAF unit now removes 60–70% of contaminants in a continuous automated process and it has shown savings through reduced energy and chemical demand, as well as a reduction in operational expenses in downstream treatment. The DAF unit also enabled improved pH fine-tuning and there is less downtime now required for washing the microfiltration and reverse osmosis plants that form part of downstream processes.

The Burra Foods site can use up to a million litres of water a day and final treated water is discharged to the environment. Improved primary treatment reduces water variations going into the secondary and tertiary treatment, further guaranteeing the high quality of this discharged water.

Hydroflux Industrial is a wastewater treatment specialist in the Australian dairy industry working with clients such as Burra Foods, Parmalat in Sydney and Pactum Dairy in Shepparton.