Page 32 - Food & Drink Magazine Sep-Oct 2020

PLANT DESIGN & FITOUT
Early engagement, big savings
FOR more than 25 years
Paul Brady Building Group has built food and cold storage facilities for food and beverage manufacturers. From building system changes to accreditation and compliance, Brady has seen all aspects of an ever-evolving
industry and can pinpoint where most project success hinges – early engagement.
“When a client comes to us with existing plans that I know won’t pass any accreditation processes, I work closely with them to reset their expectations to avoid long-term cost and
ongoing structural issues.
“It’s hard at first, but by the
time we complete a project, they are grateful we went through that process. That is why I encourage all F&B manufacturers to consult the right construction company before they even buy the building for fitout or start a refurbishment.”
Brady recalls a client who prematurely paid over $30,000 for plans to fit out a new food processing facility, which did not account for many food producing requirements.
“Within four months we had redesigned the layout, engaged our service engineers, obtained the required planning and building permits, completed the build with a certificate of occupancy, allowing our customer to obtain accreditation and be ready to supply a major contract with two weeks to spare.
“Our goal is to save other
businesses from losing that kind of money from the beginning,” Brady says.
SUSTAINING GROWTH
A baseline shift Brady has seen in F&B facilities is the growing awareness for more sustainable practices, but says the industry still has some way to go.
“We encourage our clients to think big picture. The reality is, more sustainable and higher performing building materials and refrigeration systems pay a financial dividend over the long term.
“It is short-sighted not to invest in using materials with better insulation values in the walls and ceilings, better sealing door systems, energy efficient refrigeration and solar panels. Much of these initial additional costs can be recouped within a few years.”
Education is still needed in this area, he says, but change is definitely underway. ✷
though the higher level of mixing was re-suspending settled solids, which became more “bioavailable” to the CFUs.
Bega is happy with the results and its odour free lagoon. Maintenance can also be done safely, without the use of cranes, boatsorwinches. ✷
Bega is happy with its stink-free lagoon.
For Paul Brady Building Group, early engagement saves money and structural issues.
Aerating the pond
A partnership between Bega Cheese and Hydro Innovations resulted in a 50 per cent fall in chemical oxygen demand and increasing dissolved oxygen levels at its Strathmerton plant in Victoria.
The existing wastewater system consisted of a DAF unit, which flowed into an aerated lagoon. The effluent was then stored in two non-aerated lagoons during winter, before irrigation in summer. Surface aerators were needed to keep the chemical oxygen demand (COD) down and reduce odours in the aerated and downstream non-aerated lagoons.
As the ageing aerators failed, cranes and/or boats would have to be deployed to access them. It was an expensive process that also caused damage to the dam liner.
Bega contacted Hydro
Innovations about its “bank- mounted” Venturi-Aeration systems. Mounted on the banks of lagoons, these use a self- priming pump to draw water from the lagoon. The pump discharges water under pressure through the Venturi-Aerator.
The unit draws in atmospheric air using the “venturi effect”, mixes it with the water being pumped, and discharges it back into the lagoon, charged with dissolved oxygen.
Hydro Innovations showed that with the right pump, oxygen transfer efficiency (OTE) for Venturi-Aeration units can be as high or higher than 1.86kgO2/kWh, making them as at least as efficient as surface (floating) technologies.
The aerated lagoon contained 45ML of effluent, with in-flows from 80-120ML per year. This
required a 150mm Venturi- Aeration unit, paired with a Gorman-Rupp V6A60-B self-priming pump, which has 70 per cent hydraulic efficiency.
Since installation, Bega has seen a continued increase in the dissolved oxygen (DO) level, and COD fall by 50 per cent even
32 | Food&Drink business | September-October 2020 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au