Cedar Meats is a state-of-the-art meat exporter in Victoria, with a continual improvement philosophy. They needed to upgrade their DAF system, but didn’t want to just go for the standard system. They wanted a more energy efficient system, and one that could deliver low running costs for the life of the system.
The “conventional” system consists of a centrifugal pump that pulls clean effluent from the DAF tank and feeds it into a pressurised air saturation vessel. A compressor also feeds compressed air into the same vessel and the air saturates into the effluent water.
The water is then fed back into the bottom of the DAF tank where the air comes out of solution to form tiny bubbles which attach to fats and grease in the system and float it to the top of the tank where it is scraped away.
The system requires a control system to combine air and water needs, and it requires regular certification of the pressure vessel.
There is also maintenance of the pump, compressor and pressure vessel to consider, along with energy consumption of both pump and compressor. Capital costs and running costs are not cheap for this “standard” system.
Chief Engineer at Cedar Meats, Yogesh Mistry, went looking for a solution that did not involve intricate and delicate control systems, and did not need ongoing Worksafe certification for pressure vessels. He contacted Hydro Innovations to get information on the EDUR DAF pump he had read about.
EDUR, a German Pump manufacturer since 1927, has developed a multi-stage “multiphase” pump capable of handling a gas/water mixture, making it ideal as a DAF pump. The pump draws clean effluent from the DAF tank, and at the same time, draws in atmospheric air on the suction side of the pump.
The pump sheers and mixes the air with the water, and under pressure from the multi-stage pump, air saturates into the effluent water. The water is then pumped into the bottom of the tank, where the air comes out of solution, as in conventional systems. No compressor or air saturation pressure vessel is needed.
Mr Mistry was impressed with the simplicity of the system and promptly arranged the purchase of an EDUR DAF pump. He has been pleased with the positive results, which include a higher rate of solids removed; less power used for the job which reduces power costs; and less complicated controls; a low maintenance future for the system.