Roquette costs set to dive

Keokuk, Iowa – Located in Keokuk on the Iowa/Illinois border, the heart of corn production country, Roquette America – part of the French-based Roquette group – is a producer of starch products, syrups, and sugar-derived polyols.

Roquette America previously employed coarse bubble aerators powered by large blowers and several surface mixers to aerate and mix their primary and secondary oxidation tanks. However, this standard industry practice meant constant cleaning and replacing of diffuser membranes.

Since Roquette operates 24/7, seven days per week, the process could not be suspended in order to drain the tanks. This resulted in the substantial outlay of having to hire divers to enter the tanks to carry out maintenance.

Searching for new technology to reduce maintenance time and costs associated with his aeration tanks, Rob Decker, senior project coordinator at Roquette called in Landia, which created a design for the installation of nine air jets and one mixer per tank.

According to Landia, the use of heavy-duty chopper pumps as the standard of design for its self-aspirating air jets. ensures clog-free operation and a homogenous mixture for higher air-to-water transfer.

Since the installation, the aerators have helped Roquette create a 30% saving in their energy bills, and reduced a laborious maintenance requirement to a simple, economic once yearly requirement, the supplier said.

The French-based Roquette group, which is among the world’s largest processors of starch, a world leader in polyols, and the leading European producer of maltodextrins and cationic starches.

The group has an annual turnover of around Euro3 billion. Its products are used in many applications, including animal feeds, chemical products, and food ingredients. It also makes items for use by industrial products makers and pharmaceutical companies.