Norco forges a new whey forward

Norco Foods is floating a fresh approach to wastewater which it hopes will offer a more compact and effective treatment process.

Wastewater discharged from food processing plants is officially in the spotlight, with regulators increasingly demanding more stringent treatment before it reaches public waterways.

In light of these concerns, Norco’s food division has begun implementing Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) and Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR) technology from Aerofloat at its Labrador facility, with high hopes the units can provide a more compact and effective treatment process.

Norco was founded in Byron Bay in 1895 as a regional milk processing cooperative, and its contract manufacturing division processes a broad portfolio of dairy products.

These include milk and ice cream for its private-label and foodservice customers worldwide.

According to Norco, it’s the wastewater from the clean-in-place procedures that follow dairy product processing that typically contain most suspended fat, plus suspended and dissolved protein and lactose contaminants.

Its goal is to remove these in the most efficient way before water is discharged.

The Labrador facility, located at Coombabah Queensland, has, in recent years, relied on an aerated lagoon-based treatment system for this task.

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