Greenyard Frozen

Greenyard Frozen

The Company

Greenyard Frozen was established in 1965 and is now a worldwide market leader in processing freshly harvested fruits and vegetables into frozen food products.
The company has an annual production of 450,000 tonnes exporting to more than 80 countries.

the Problem
The company required a solution for its vegetable processing site in Boston, Lincolnshire. Specifically, its issue was with the processing of peas, the sesonality of which led to highly variable wastewater loads for the company, and issue which is typical of the Food processing industry.

Peas have a very high sugar content which generates a highly concentrated, highly organically contaminated effluent. With the pea harvesting season typically being only 6-8 weeks, this meant Greenyard Frozen in the position whereby they were unable to stay within their permitted wastewater levels.

Additionally, wastewater discharge costs were high as they were calculated on the Mogden Formula.

Greenyard Frozen required an upgrade to the existing wastewater treatment system at its Boston site to enable the company to maintain its permit for public sewage discharge.

The Solution
Following an extensive appraisal of the existing treatment plants, MSE Systems designed, built and installed a new system on site which included the demolition and removal of existing assets from site.

The equipment that was no longer required was removed, but where possible equipment that could be reused or upgraded was kept and incorporated in the design of the new system. New buildings and tanks were also installed.

The full system included:

• Balance tank to equalise flow and load
• Screening
• Mixing
• pH correction
• Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) to clarify water and remove suspended materials
• Polymer make up and dosing systems to remove contaminants through flocculation and/or coagulation
• Bulk chemical storage for ease of use by Greenyard Frozen
• Sludge dewatering to reduce volume of solids and produce a stackable cake that can be more easily removed from site

The complete plant was built under Construction (Design and Management) (CDM) regulations and was operational within four months from order placement. The plant included a fully automated MCC control panel with HMI control and remote access to enable Greenyard frozen the ability to monitor the system and analyse the water. This confirms environmental compliance as well as providing data to operate the plant.

The new plant now handle capacities of up to 60 m3/hr, discharging water into a local water company sewer connection within specifications on pH, suspended solids, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), oils fats and greases, and flow.