Challenges

Using out-grade vegetable products and other feedstocks can increase the risk of plant diseases and weed seeds being spread between farms when re-distributing digestate on the land. One farming consortium comprising six local farms, Agri-Gen in Suffolk, tackled this issue at its 5MW anaerobic digestion plant by installing a 3-Tank Batch Sludge Pasteurizer from HRS to improve the biosecurity of the digestate fertilizer which is then returned to the fields of the six farms.

A chemical company in Spain that produces sulphuric acid, nitric acid and other chemicals approached us to resolve a serious environmental problem that they had involving the wash water used to clean the tanks where chemicals are stored.

Obviously, no wash water could be drained to the river without being treated to eliminate all traces of hazardous chemicals.

In order to maximize production efficiency, the waste products from sugar production processes are reused whenever possible to extract and reuse as much energy as possible. Many of these fluids and vapors can also present a severe fouling problem when heated.

When it comes to anaerobic digestion, trials can range from making minor changes with the feedstock mix or dwell time, to assessing the effects of major equipment upgrades such as new CHP units or digestate processing equipment.

Challenge

Driven by austerity measures, at the beginning of 2012 the Spanish government effectively withdrew subsidies for renewable energy, including biogas production. Despite this freeze on support, there are still opportunities for businesses to maximize the value of energy and digestate. So how does a farming company like Kernel Export, which produces salads, brassicas, melons, herbs and courgettes and pumpkins and exports throughout Europe, answer these market challenges and meet high crop safety standards, while complying with local legal requirements and fulfilling the expectations of overseas fresh produce markets?

Challenges

For traditional dairy producers, removing the heat is an essential part of the manufacturing processing when preparing butter, cream, buttermilk, yogurt, cottage cheese, crème fresh, sour cream and fromage frais for sale. While many use traditional plate design heat exchangers, for family-owned Yorkshire-based Longley Farm, who specializes in producing uncooked dairy Yorkshire curd and also needs to cool fresh cream without over-agitating it, a gentler, more compact system was sought to maintain high product quality.