SPS helps Chivas Brothers achieve effluent discharge compliance
28 Sep 2011
Moray, UK — Chivas Brothers Ltd has taken delivery of a fourth packaged lamella DAF (dissolved air flotation) unit from Siltbuster Process Solutions (SPS). The D25 unit — the second to be installed at Chivas Brothers’ The Glenlivet distillery in Moray, Scotland — will enable the company to increase the biofilter solids removal capacity, thus increasing productivity at the plant.
Chivas Brothers operates 12 malt distilleries, a grain distillery and two gin distilleries throughout Scotland and the UK, where it distils well known spirit brands including Glenlivet and Beefeater Gin.
The new unit will be permanently installed at the distillery’s effluent treatment plant, which currently processes up to 35 cubic metres of effluent per hour. The DAF will alleviate pressure on the settlement tanks by removing suspended solids following the biofilter treatment stage.
This will increase the capacity of the plant by effectively ’freeing up’ one of the settlement tanks, enabling it to be used in parallel with another settlement tank for the second biofilter stage.
Chivas Brothers has two further SPS DAF units at its Aberlour and Glenallachie distilleries, where the units play an essential role in enhancing the treatment plants’ performance by reducing suspended solids and copper concentrations.
The unit at Aberlour has helped to deliver higher discharge standards from an older but well-performing treatment plant, while at Glenallachie, the DAF was required to remove suspended solids and copper at the pre-treatment stage on a new membrane bioreactor (MBR) treatment facility.
Ewen Fraser, engineering manager at Chivas Brothers said: “The SPS DAF units have significantly improved our effluent treatment operations across these three sites, ensuring that we can maintain discharge consent compliance. Our engineering and operations staff have a good understanding of how the units operate, which was an added benefit when specifying and installing this latest unit at The Glenlivet.”
The DAF units use established solid and liquid separation technology to generate ’whitewater’ by dissolving air under pressure and then releasing the pressure to form microfine air bubbles. Solids and other particulates attach preferentially to the air bubbles and rise to the surface of the DAF unit where they are collected, thickened and removed by a motorised scraper.
The treated water can then be reused or discharged offsite as necessary, while the collected material can be disposed of via recycling routes or can be reused. This process ensures that companies meet discharge consent compliance and incur reduced disposal charges.
