H2O Innovation, Inc. announced an agreement for the implementation and operation of a full-scale demonstration treatment plant at Fromagerie Bergeron, a family-run cheese producer situated in Saint-Antoine-de-Tilly. This realization is made possible by the investment of $350,000 by the Fromagerie Bergeron and by the participation of the following partners: the “Fonds d’action québécois pour le développement durable” (FAQDD) and the National Research Council Canada (CNRC) through their Industrial research aid program.
The Demonstration Treatment Plant was preceded by a laboratory phase and a pilot phase that produced excellent results, which the FAQDD and their financial partner the government of Quebec had already supported. With the help of their partners, H2O Innovation and Fromagerie Bergeron now move to the full-scale wastewater treatment of the cheese factory representing 100 m3 per day. The technology once installed will serve as a demonstration site for Bio-fosse adapted for the specific treatment of cheese factory, an agri-food type industrial effluent.
Along with the Demonstration Treatment Plant, H2O Innovation is mandated to operate the station for a period of four years. The full-scale system will show that it responds to the criteria for treatment of production wash water. “During the pilot phase we obtained 99.1% removal of DBO5, which exceed the requested quality standards,” said Martine Lanoue, Eng., manager of the biological process division at H2O Innovation.
With this type of solution in place, agri-food industries connected to a municipal sewer system can discharge a better quality of effluent. Furthermore, the Bio-fosse adapted for cheese factory could show that it can treat wastewater to the point where it can be discharged direct to the environment. The commercial potential of this process is real, and considerable sales could be generated from the estimated 70 cheese factories in Quebec that are often at the fringe of a sewer system, or are taxed by their municipalities for exceeding charge limits.
Source: H2O Innovation, Inc.
