ORLANDO, Florida, USA, Oct 12, 2009 -- Siemens has been awarded the contract to provide process equipment, design and start-up services for a wastewater treatment system at the Pearl Valley Cheese Inc. production facility in Fresno, Ohio. The system will be designed to convert waste material generated during cheese production into a reusable biogas generated in the wastewater treatment process. This renewable energy approach allows Pearl Valley Cheese to receive a state funding grant, and reduces the amount of natural gas required to operate the facility’s boilers, which are used for providing steam for the cooking, cleaning and pasteurizing processes. The 50,000-gallon-per-day (GPD) -- 189,000 liters per day (LPD) -- system, which will be able to handle a variety of waste streams and still meet effluent requirements, is scheduled for start up in the summer of 2010.
Siemens will provide an influent screen, neutralization equipment, anaerobic contact process (AnCP) reactor, an Agar moving bed reactor (MBBR) -- licensed from
Aqwise -- for aerobic polishing and a Dystor Biogas Storage system. Pearl Valley Cheese considered other wastewater treatment technologies, but chose Siemens based on its experience, as well as system cost and installation time. The AnCP is a low-rate anaerobic process that incorporates an anaerobic bioreactor and a clarification step in series. The methane gas by-product of anaerobic treatment, with a heat value of approximately 650 BTU/ft², offers a return on the capital investment in the form of “green” energy. The AnCP is used in conjunction with the Dystor Biogas Storage system, an engineered dual membrane storage technology that provides flexibility in biogas availability to meet the plant’s production demands for energy. The dissolved air flotation (DAF) system removes suspended solids, fats/oils/grease and other insoluble materials, and typically produces sludge concentrations several times that of conventional gravity filters. The Agar MBBR process provides for final polishing of wastewater through the use of suspended biomass carriers, which provide a large surface area for biofilm growth, enhancing the biological wastewater treatment process without increasing plant footprint. On this project, Siemens worked closely with its design partner, Applied Technologies Inc. (ATi) of Brookfield, Wisconsin, in developing this cost-effective, environmentally sound treatment solution.
Pearl Valley Cheese Inc. manufactures a variety of award winning Swiss and Colby style cheeses, distributed to grocers, specialty retail markets in Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and Florida.
The Siemens Industry Sector (www.siemens.com/industry), based in Erlangen, Germany, is the world's leading supplier of production, transportation, building and lighting technologies. With integrated automation technologies as well as comprehensive industry-specific solutions, Siemens increases the productivity, efficiency and flexibility of its customers in the fields of industry and infrastructure. The Sector consists of six Divisions: Building Technologies, Drive Technologies, Industry Automation, Industry Solutions, Mobility and Osram. With around 222,000 employees worldwide Siemens Industry posted in fiscal year 2008 a profit of EUR 3.86 billion with revenues totaling EUR 38 billion.
With the business activities of Siemens VAI Metals Technologies, (Linz, Austria), Siemens Water Technologies (www.siemens.com/water), based in Warrendale, Pa., U.S.A., and Industrial Technologies, (Erlangen, Germany), the Siemens Industry Solutions Division (www.siemens.com/industry-solutions) is one of the world's leading solution and service providers for industrial and infrastructure facilities. Using its own products, systems and process technologies, Industry Solutions develops and builds plants for end customers, commissions them and provides support during their entire life cycle. With around 31,000 employees worldwide Siemens Industry Solutions achieved an order intake of EUR 8.415 billon in fiscal year 2008.
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