Go with the eco-friendly flow

"Energy monitoring, benchmarking between the shifts and lines, and large displays showing the actual status often help to reduce energy as people start to think about improvements," states Holger Schmidt, head industry segment manager, food and beverage for Baumer Electric AG, a Frauenfeld, Switzerland-based provider of sensor technology, encoders, measuring instruments and components for automated image processing. Savings can be substantial By closely analyzing wastewater activity, processors also will be in position to implement more effective treatment methodologies, analysts note. Because dairy wastewater typically contains signifiant amounts of fats, oils, grease and dissolved organics, treatment is usually necessary before discharging the liquids to the environment or a publicly owned treatment works, says Timur Dunaev, technical manager for Veolia Water Technologies, a Saint-Maurice, France-based designer and provider of water and wastewater treatment plants and water treatment equipment. "Many dairies spend a large amount of operating expenses to ensure their wastewater is treated appropriately," he says, noting that it is valuable for processors to perform site audits and engineering studies to better understand the costs and identify how to best implement changes or install new technologies that can bring down the overall lifecycle costs of the wastewater treatment plant. First-push water rinses the piping and equipment of bulk food prior to the start of the first caustic cleaning cycle.