FDBusiness.com

To help achieve its sustainability goals, Bakkavor Group, the UK’s leading manufacturer of fresh prepared foods, has appointed waste water treatment specialist Aquabio to design and construct a state-of-the-art effluent treatment and water recycling facility, at its Cucina Sano business based in Boston, Lincolnshire.

Construction of the cutting edge plant has commenced and will take ten months to complete. The plant has been designed to treat wastewater from the production process to ensure full compliance with stringent consent requirements for local watercourses. The plant will also incorporate additional treatment to high grade potable water quality for reuse within the facility.

The new plant will use Aquabio’s AMBR LE™ Low Energy Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) technology which has been successfully utilised for industrial effluent treatment and water reuse in numerous applications in the UK and US since 2001.

Ben Cooper, manufacturing manager of Cucina Sano, says: “We are always working to ensure we can help sustain the environment in which we operate and one of our key areas of focus is water usage. We are looking forward to seeing the benefits of this new plant in helping us achieve our sustainability goals.”

Steve Goodwin, managing director of Aquabio, says: “We are providing a full turnkey installation including civil, mechanical, electrical, software, commissioning, operation and maintenance. Aquabio is very pleased to be partnering with Cucina Sano in this long term project. The new Plant will recycle over 80% of treated effluent to potable water and thus significantly reduce both water consumption and wastewater discharge volumes.

Steve Goodwin adds: “We are a leader in industrial waste water treatment, most notably in Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) technology and water recycling and reuse and have pioneered the implementation of water recycling within a wide range of industries including food and drink.”

The plant is due to be operational from September 2016 and will be the fourth plant installed by Aquabio for Bakkavor.

The forthcoming plant has already received a certificate of Environmental Benefit from DEFRA under the Enhanced Capital Allowances (ECA) Scheme for Water Efficient Technologies, within the category of “waste water recovery and reuse systems”. The ECA Scheme for Water Efficient Technologies is aimed at businesses which use energy efficiency, reduce water use or improve water quality.