Water is a vital part of the preparation of all food products. It is used for preparation, cooking and cleaning. Large factory units such as Greencore Group at Wrexham have a substantial demand for water, 24 hours a day, 364 days a year. Factories and production units can easily overlook the implications of how the water is disposed of once it has fulfilled its task within the manufacturing cycle.

Water bills are calculated on the basis of both the strength of the effluent, and the volume discharged. These same parameters were measured by Sea Bed technology at the different outlets from the factory so that a profile of the loading could be established. This information, which included measurements of peak volumes during the cleaning of large cooking vessels, was essential for the design of a pre-treatment system.

Once a report had been produced, Sea Bed Technology used the data to design a pre-treatment settlement system which utilised minimum energy, no additional chemicals and was capable of automatic operation. It was essential that any scheme be odour free and require the minimum of intervention during routine operation. A working pilot plant of the proposed scheme was built at the Sea Bed Technology laboratory and this was operated using product from the factory. After refinement of the design, Greencore Group received a proposal from the company for a complete turnkey package including the design, building, finance, operation and maintenance of a plant tailor made to the requirements of the Greencore Group site.

The plant is now in its second year of operation and it has made a substantial saving in the overall cost of using and disposing of water from the plant. The system is capable of remote operation by Sea Bed technology who feed back valuable information to the manufacturing unit on water usage costs resulting in a pro-actively managed overhead. Similar plants are under consideration for other group manufacturing sites.