What if you could reduce organics-related product loss issues?
Water is an important topic in the food and dairy industry. Companies need to pay high attention to wastewater management to meet stricter regulations, protect their social reputations, and reduce energy consumption to respect ecological footprint. Reducing product loss and keeping the profitability high is another important factor.
Historically, many processing plants viewed production and wastewater treatment as two entirely separate functions. This is changing as raw material costs increase and margins tighten. Therefore, cost management is more important than ever. Process wastewater is infamous for carrying valuable product away from the plant, and away from the bottom line. The International Dairy Industry estimates a “standard” product loss figure for dairy plants at 2–3% annually. This might not seem like much at initial glance, but the financial implications of this loss level are quite significant. For example, experiencing an average 2.5% product loss level costs a “typical dairy plant” more than $5 million per year in lost product value (and nearly $900,000 in extra wastewater treatment costs).
Milk solids loss will vary with each dairy plant based on its capacity utilization, operations, and product mix and storage parameters. In order to take the right steps to make proper adjustments and corrections to reduce product loss, plant managers, operators and health and safety managers must have ready access to accurate, real‐time information regarding their plant’s wastewater loadings. And the lack, or inadequacy, of this critical information represents the “Achilles Heel” of current product loss reduction programs at many dairy plants.
Monitoring organics in water and drain lines helps production facilities quickly and accurately measure the carbon content in their water streams so they can maximize production yield by quickly detecting product loss events to take corrective actions and improve production management processes to prevent future product loss.
A critical element to the effectiveness of a product loss reduction program today is a dairy plant’s ability to best utilize online instrumentation. The continuous measurement of Total Organic Carbon (TOC) through field proven online instrumentation can greatly help dairies identify when and where losses are occurring. TOC is a measure of the carbon content of dissolved and undissolved organic matter in a sample. TOC is the sum of organically bound carbon present in water, bonded to dissolved or suspended matter. TOC measurement is widely considered the most cost‐effective, continuous, accurate and timely test to identify the quantity of milk products in wastewater streams, because there is a direct relationship between gallons of milk lost by a dairy plant and the quantity of TOC in dairy wastewater at that point in time.
But industrial applications are demanding, especially when it comes to measuring TOC in real-time. High salts, oils, greases, particles, and a host of other materials pose challenging conditions.
For these challenging conditions in dairy processing, Hach uses its patented two stage advanced oxidation (TSAO) technology and larger internal diameter tubing (with self-cleaning), giving its Online TOC Analyser B7000i the ability to measure organics reliably in food processing conditions with 99.86% uptime and required preventative maintenance only twice per year.
Continuous TOC measurement and monitoring allow plants to reduce levels of lost product in wastewater. They also allow for reduced energy and water consumption, make savings in wastewater treatment costs, protect the plant from overloading, reduce potential discharge fines from municipalities and, most importantly, reclaim valuable product that would otherwise be lost.
The Hach BioTector B7000i Dairy TOC analyzer was developed specifically for the Dairy Industry. Typically, lost product levels can be reduced by a conservative 15% using reliable TOC monitoring. There is a direct correlation between levels of lost product and wastewater loading. Clients regularly report greater than 15% reduction to wastewater loading as a result of using reliable TOC monitoring, with some clients achieving as much as a 40% reduction. Given this scenario, typical dairy plants could save around $675,000 each year by reclaiming only 15% of product that was once lost in wastewater. This figure relates solely to liquid milk costs and does not factor in additional processing costs (e.g. labor, energy, etc.) which could be even higher.
All advantages of Hach BioTector B7000i TOC analyzer at a glance:
Worry-free TOC with smart design
The Hach BioTector B7000i comes with a built-in self-cleaning sample line and reactor. This enables the B7000i to deliver trustworthy results even if your water contains high levels of fats, oils, greases, sludge and particulates or has pH swings.
Easy handling
All B7000i come with unique oversized tubing which eliminated the need for filtration, and you can be sure to have a fully representative sample. The special tubing also prevents clogging as well as sample contamination.
Superior reliability
Using BioTector’s internationally proven and patented Two Stage Advanced Oxidation technology the B7000i delivers maximum reliability, accuracy and availability with a MCert certified uptime of 99.86%. In addition, no calibration or maintenance is required between 6-month service intervals.
Flexible field of application
Depending on the type of application, the instrument can operate across a very wide measuring range. The B7000i analyser also has multi-streaming capabilities with up to 6 process streams possible. Additionally, it can be adapted for indoor or outdoor use.
Low cost of ownership
Installing a B7000i provides cost savings through optimizing processes by decreasing chemical dosing, waste reduction, reducing samples processes and lowering overall plant operation costs.
There are many opportunities for the food processing and dairy industry, and many new challenges in terms of sustainability, process efficiencies, and wastewater treatment capacity — challenges that Hach will continually work with the industry to address with reliable and cost-effective solutions.
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